Police are searching for a group of armed men they say kidnapped six different people over nearly a week in Washington, D.C., forcing them to make cash withdrawals or face bodily harm.
Officers from the Metropolitan Police Department said the men forced people into a car at gunpoint, driving them to various ATMs and demanding that they take out money. Since August 24, the group of men has robbed six people, a police commander said.
One robbed man said they pointed a gun at him, covered his head with a shirt, pinned him down in the backseat of the car, and burned him with a lighter until he gave them the correct PIN code for his ATM card.
“I thought they might kill me,” one of the victims told News4.
Other victims said the robbers blindfolded them and restrained their hands with zip ties.
“Essentially, they were blindfolding them in different ways, presented a handgun, forcing them into a vehicle and then taking them on a short drive around the city, taking their credit cards, cash, identification and phone cards,”
Most of the robberies occurred at night in Northwest, D.C., including on Capitol Hill, Petworth, and near Logan Circle. The thieves targeted people outside alone between 10:30 p.m. and 4:00 a.m., authorities said. Police described the suspects — also spotted on security cameras — as three or four men in their 20s.
Police are advising people to walk in groups and along well-lit streets at night.
The FBI has teamed up with the D.C. police department to help with the case.
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