Newly released video captured an armed robbery directly in front of a popular restaurant at The Wharf in Southwest D.C. on Monday night.
The video shows how the robbers focused on high-end shopping bags the victims carried, likely unaware they contained dinner leftovers.
Surveillance cameras captured how quickly it happened. A dark vehicle pulled up on the distinctive cobblestone streets of The Wharf and directly in front of Philippe Chow restaurant just before 11 p.m. on Monday.
Four masked robbers, guns drawn, moved with synchronized speed. They took the victims’ phones and wallets.
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They also took two large black shopping bags with gold lettering, one of which appears to have been dropped by a victim. The bags are the ones the restaurant uses to pack up leftovers.
The crime dismayed some visitors to The Wharf who spoke to News4.
"I saw the video of people pulling their guns right over there. It was really scary," one woman said on Wednesday.
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Still, they enthusiastically embraced the area as a welcome addition to Southwest D.C. and to the nation's capital itself.
"It's so much fun to come down here, get dinner, see a show, all the good stuff," another woman said.
The Wharf has an extensive surveillance camera network. It was not immediately clear if it provided detectives with any additional information. Investigators also did not say if the vehicle used in the armed robbery was stolen.
