Two college students were robbed at gunpoint in separate attacks in upper Northwest Washington by a man with dreadlocks who police say operates in the shadows and stalks his victims from behind. The first attack happened around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday and involved a Georgetown University student around 36th and O streets NW.
Two hours later, a Washington Examiner intern was injured during a mugging and shooting in Tenleytown.
The 21-year-old intern, who is not being identified by name, was assaulted while walking home from the Tenleytown Metro station around 12:30 a.m. She was praying the rosary to clear her mind along 42nd and Albermarle streets NW when a man approached from the shadows and displayed a silver handgun.
“Don’t run or I’ll kill you,” he said.
The man grabbed at her purse, but she was too scared to relinquish it.
“I wanted to let it go, but I was shaking and in shock,” she said.
That’s when the man punched her under the neck with his gun and the weapon fired a shot. She screamed as loud as she could and ran, the rosary still clenched in her fist.
“I couldn’t tell if I was shot,” she said. “I just screamed incredibly loud.”
The gunman fled in a different direction with her purse.
At the same time, D.C. police officers were looking for a man with dreadlocks who had robbed a college student two hours earlier in the area of 36th and O streets NW. The man also used a silver handgun.
A police officer found the intern and police quickly determined that she had been attacked by the man they were looking for. She was taken to a hospital where she was treated for powder burns on her neck and a large bruise.
The contents of the intern’s purse, lip gloss, pencils, pens, business cards and her empty wallet were found strewn along Loughboro Road near Sibley Memorial Hospital, she said.
The rosary was the only valuable the gunman didn’t take. “I honestly credit my life being saved to Mary’s intercession,” she said.
Second Police District Commander Michael Reese said the armed robberies are “definitely connected” and he is optimistic that police will find the gunman.
“I’m thankful she is not seriously hurt,” Reese said.
The gunman was described as a dark-complexioned black male, in his mid-20s, with shoulder-length dreadlocks and wearing a black T-shirt with jean shorts or jean pants.
Anyone with information is asked to call police at 202-727-9099.
