St. Louis County Man Accused of Carjacking in St. Louis

ST. LOUIS – A St. Louis County, Missouri teen was indicted Wednesday and accused of being captured on video carjacking a Mazda 3 in St. Louis earlier this month.

A grand jury in U.S. District Court in St. Louis indicted Ahdaejay Britton, 18, of Bel-Ridge, on one felony count of carjacking and one count of possession and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. 

A motion seeking to have Britton held in jail until trial says that in a “brazen attack” at about 1:30 p.m. on May 8, Britton approached the victim as he was walking out of a parking garage in the 3800 block of Lindell Boulevard. Britton pointed a handgun at the victim, pulled him back into the stairwell and then threw the victim to the ground, the motion says. After taking the victim's car keys and handing them to a juvenile, Britton stuck his gun in the victim’s face and reached into his pocket to steal his wallet and iPhone.

The carjacking was captured on surveillance video, and Britton was caught by police with the stolen vehicle, the stolen iPhone and a gun less than an hour after the carjacking, the detention motion says. 

The carjacking charge carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both. The firearm charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years, consecutive to all other charges, and a maximum of life in prison.

Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt.  Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The case was investigated by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the St. Louis County Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Martin is prosecuting the case.