Philadelphia hit a citywide record of 1,000 carjackings this year as vehicle theft and overall crime continues to skyrocket, Fox's WTXF-TV 29 reported.
With time still left in 2022, the 1,005 total carjackings surpassed the previous record of 847 in 2021, itself a double from the 410 seen in 2020. In 2019, the city only saw 225 carjackings.
"The majority of 2022's 1,005 Philadelphia carjackings, so far, happened while 672 victims were sitting in parked vehicles," reporter Steve Keeley noted.
Of the carjackings this year, 113 were delivery drivers, 26 occurred at a gas station, and 19 drivers were reportedly carjacked at red lights. The most popular models stolen were Hondas, Toyotas, and Nissans.
In January, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw warned of the abnormal number of carjackings across U.S. cities, noting that the trend was not unique to the City of Brotherly Love.
But the news comes in the backdrop of crime soaring in Philadelphia, with a 14-year-old murdered earlier this week in a drive-by shooting while leaving a football scrimmage.
"When you see kids leaving the football field, and they're gunned down, and they're between 14 and 17 years of age, it's just absolutely heartbreaking," Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said. "I share the grief of the principal, the families, the neighborhood, and the entire city. This is a horrifying situation."
"We don't just want to be prosecuting people after the crime," he continued. "We want to stop the crime from happening and save that victim's life."
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