A Bucks County carjacking went viral. The Philly man who did it just got a lengthy prison sentence

An East Germantown man was sentenced to 11 to 30 years in state prison Monday for a violent carjacking in Bucks County that went viral online after the attack was captured on video.

Zahir Johnson, 22, pleaded guilty in July to simple assault, robbery of a motor vehicle, criminal conspiracy, theft, and related offenses in the June 2022 carjacking outside a Lukoil gas station in Warrington, as well as an earlier, unsuccessful carjacking earlier that day.

Prosecutors, led by Deputy District Attorney Alan J. Garabedian, urged Bucks County Court Judge Wallace Bateman to hand down the lengthy sentence, given the nature of the carjacking and Johnson’s criminal record. Court records show he has several felony convictions in Philadelphia on charges including aggravated assault, receiving stolen property, and conspiracy.

Bateman agreed, running the sentences for the two attacks consecutively.

» READ MORE: Carjackings in Philly are on a record pace. Officials aren’t sure why.

Johnson’s attorney, Niels Eriksen, said that while the sentence was long, he believed it was fair, given Johnson’s criminal record.

“This decision gives him the opportunity to be paroled at a relatively early age and build a better life,” Eriksen said.

Johnson and two accomplices whom police did not identify publicly were walking along Easton Road in Warrington on June 13, 2022, according to the affidavit of probable cause for Johnson’s arrest. The trio walked into a Shell station just before 7 p.m. and approached a man pumping gas in his car.

The group demanded that the man turn over his keys, the affidavit said. When he refused, they struggled with him, but he was able to break free and run inside the gas station to call police.

Johnson and the others fled and continued to walk along Easton Road, according to the affidavit. About an hour later, they repeated their scheme at the Lukoil station.

In that attack, which was recorded by the station’s surveillance cameras, one of the males snuck up behind a man pumping his gas and placed him in a chokehold, the affidavit said. Another member of the group punched him and ordered him to hand over his keys. The victim threw the keys on the ground, and the men released him.

They drove off in the victim’s Nissan SUV, but the car was recovered by police nearby, crashed into a building. Johnson and his codefendants ran but were arrested not long after.