Security personnel of Justice Sonia Sotomayor shoot man in thwarted carjacking, officials report

A member of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s security team shot an armed man in an attempted carjacking incident, as detailed in court documents. The event occurred around 1 a.m. on July 5 in Washington, D.C., involving two deputy U.S. Marshals who were on duty in an unmarked government vehicle. The assailant approached them in a silver minivan and brandished a gun at one of the deputies through the driver’s side window, identified in a criminal complaint. The U.S. Marshals deputies, despite being in an unmarked car, were wearing U.S. Marshals shirts.
Following the threat, one of the deputies used his officially issued firearm to shoot the man approximately four times, with one bullet hitting the man in the mouth. Afterward, the deputy administered first aid to the wounded individual while the silver minivan fled the scene, according to charges filed. Subsequently, the suspect was hospitalized for treatment and later taken into police custody.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals verified the involvement of the security detail assigned to safeguard Supreme Court justices, noting that the deputies were positioned near Justice Sotomayor’s residence. Importantly, there is no suggestion that Justice Sotomayor was the intended target of the attempted carjacking. This incident occurred in the context of a series of prominent carjacking cases in the capital city, with previous victims including a diplomat from the United Arab Emirates and U.S. Representative Henry Cuellar of Texas. Additionally, last year, Secret Service agents, who were protecting President Joe Biden’s granddaughter, fired their weapons at three individuals attempting to break into an unmarked Secret Service vehicle, but nobody was injured in that incident.