Shepherd Park Bus Stop Gunpoint Robbery: Victim's First Hand Account

A Shepherd Park bus stop was the scene of an armed robbery on Thursday.  The victim was a woman waiting alone at the stop.  One robber held a gun to her head while the other grabbed her purse.  Read her chilling first hand account of what happened, as posted on the Shepherd Park Listserv, which took place at 16th and Primrose, NW.

I was attacked by the two guys and if there is anything that I can provide to help track them down, I'd like to do it. There were two black males, one was light skinned, clean-shaven, with kind of a baby-face, for lack of a better word -- a relatively handsome guy. He was wearing a black peacoat that grazed his hips but it was not buttoned. He was about my height 5'6" or 5'7" and had short hair, but not super short. I would estimate his age as late teens, probably anywhere from 16 or 17 to 19 or 20 at most. The other guy was stockier, but not fat, also wearing black, with dreadlocks about shoulder length (definitely not longer than that), with darker skin, but not very dark, a rounder face and was a bit taller than the other guy, maybe 5'9" or so. He looked a little older than the first guy, so probably 18 or 19 to 20 or 22 at most. They looked a little out of place for the neighborhood, dressed a little more street than most people dress there, but not gang-ish or thug-ish.

I was waiting for the southbound S4 bus at the bus stop, reading the paper, and they suddenly appeared, but I figured they were waiting for the bus. They sat down on the brick retaining wall a little ways away from me (not too close) and clearly waited for the light from the north to change so that no traffic would be coming. This happened around 10:05/10:10, so it they clearly picked a time after rush hour to do it when traffic was slower. Then they got up and moved around me and told me to give them my purse and I thought they were kidding until one of them pulled out a gun and held it to my face. They took the purse off my arm and ran around the corner and into the alley right off Primrose.

When they got to the corner, I started screaming at the top of my lungs for help but no one was around - no cars, no police, except two people who were walking their dogs and called 911. As I understand, the calls were routed to MD, not DC, so there was a delay in when the police got there. I wish someone else had heard my cries for help -- it's still hard to imagine that no one was home at all and didn't look out their window or door, but this is a quiet, bucolic zone between MD and DC where clearly the criminals have found a perfect spot to encamp. I hope everyone in the area will be on high alert for these criminals; I'd love to have them caught. Please be aware that the bus stops are not safe, particularly the one at 16th and Primrose.