BETHESDA / NW DC

CRIME WAVE

UPDATE

Has the Park Bethesda Ski Mask

Gang Reemerged on DC Side of Line?

Another Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row Exclusive!!!

The January 19 Park Bethesda armed robbers remain atop Bethesda's "Most Wanted" list.

No incidents fitting their description (3 robbers using firearms, wearing ski masks, assaulting and robbing victim of property) are found in the Montgomery County Police official crime report.

However...

Let's check SpotCrime's unofficial report:

Assault, 5000 block of Dalton Road, Bethesda, 3/24/12

Robbery, 4200 block of Connecticut Ave. NW, DC, 3/28/12

***Armed Robbery, 4000 block of Connecticut Ave. NW, DC, 3/28/12

According to SpotCrime:

Metropolitan Police Department officers reported an armed robbery "at gunpoint" at 2:01 PM on Tuesday, March 28. Suspects described as 2 black males, who fled the scene and are still at large.

This sounds somewhat like the ski mask gang, fits their m.o. of operating near Metro stations on the Red Line (Van Ness, in this case), but there are only two robbers mentioned. And there is no specific mention of them wearing masks. Is this a different group, or have they lost their Third Musketeer?

Were they the same guys who committed that second robbery on Connecticut that same day? That second incident (above) does not mention "armed" but it is reminiscent of how the ski mask gang struck on Wisconsin Avenue one night, the victim escaped, and then they struck again just a few blocks south.

It's a waiting game at this point. Certainly, there were no armed robbery incidents reported in nearby NW or Bethesda for several weeks. No official information on this incident is available, which is strange, because the SpotCrime source for this says the robbery was reported by MPD units.

No crimes of any kind were reported in the Westbard Sector this past week. Police remain on patrol in the area.

Nothing's changed at the Westwood Shopping Center; large portions of the parking lot were pitch black again for the entire week, as of last night. Park Bethesda residents must brave the darkness to walk over to the Giant or Rite Aid, as Capital Properties - for reasons still known only to them - simply refuses to activate full lighting on the property at night.