Police are searching for a group of men who allegedly forced people into a vehicle, drove them to different ATMs and had them withdraw money from their bank accounts in a series of armed kidnappings earlier this week mostly in Northwest D.C., authorities said.
“I thought they might kill me,” one of the victims, whose identity is being concealed for safety, said.
The robberies all happened in much the same way. The assailants would approach a victim who was alone at night, brandish a weapon and force them into a vehicle.
They would then either drive the victim to an ATM to withdraw funds or get their banking information to steal money later and finally drop them off at a “secondary location,” D.C. police said.
The man who spoke to News4 said the group approached when he was in a bike lane. They pointed a gun at him, put a shirt over his head, held him down in the backseat of a car and burned him with a lighter, he said.
The six kidnappings occurred at the list locations between the hours of 10:30 p.m. and 3:45 a.m.:
- 1300 block of Corcoran Street NW on Aug. 24
- 5200 block of 14th Street NW on Aug. 25
- 14th and Allison Street NW on Aug. 26
- 1200 block of 10th Street NW on Aug. 28
- 500 block of 13th Street NE on Aug. 28
- 700 block of Kenyon Street NW on Aug. 28
According to police reports, the men also stole wallets and phones. In one case, when a victim tried to run away, they were assaulted and forced into the vehicle, police said.
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Security cameras captured photos and video of some of the suspects, which were shared by police. A Nissan Rogue has also been recovered.
Anyone with information about the cases should call police at (202)727-9099. A reward of up to $10,000 is being offered for information that leads to an arrest.
