A Porsche 718 Boxster owner recounted a harrowing encounter on Sunday in Bethesda, Maryland, when a would-be carjacker pistol-whipped him. The thieves might have successfully stolen his prized sports car if not for those pesky gears and the clutch pedal inside the cabin. Now, the police are working to locate the suspects, but their lesson won’t be about learning to drive a stick shift.
Myo Maung can be seen in dashcam footage from his Porsche attempting to open the front storage compartment when men approach him from a red Nissan SUV. The first individual approaches Maung with a gun in hand, leading to a scuffle over the key. Meanwhile, a second and third person exit the Nissan SUV and walk out of frame toward Maung.
When the three individuals reappear, Maung is nowhere to be seen. One of them hops into his Porsche, but seconds later, the same person pops back out without starting the car. After a short interval, another individual from the SUV jumps into the car and attempts to drive the 718 Boxster, but they stall it multiple times. Maung recalls that he fled to a nearby restaurant and thought he heard a gunshot.
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Police believe that the assailants may have followed Maung to his parking spot and then laid in wait for him to return. They confirmed that the suspects were driving a car that matched the description of a recently stolen vehicle.
“We are focusing very heavily on the locations that border the Washington DC and Prince George’s County line by placing additional resources with our uniform patrol and our plain clothes assets down in those areas to try and address the growing number of vehicles that we’ve seen either carjacked or that have been stolen… I really, really encourage people to stay aware of their surroundings at all times,” Captain Sean Gagan told Fox 5.
That sort of tactic appears to be more and more common these days. In recent months one BMW owner had thieves follow him to his driveway before stealing his car and an Aston Martin owner experienced the same thing in his own garage. In both cases, it appeared as though owners had let their guard down before criminals struck.