Local digest
|
Version 0 of 1. The disturbing fact is that robbers took cellphones from five people in five incidents in the five days from Feb. 5 to 9. Possibly more reassuring was a statement made Sunday by D.C. police, reporting arrests in the five incidents. In four robberies, victims were assaulted, police said. This included the first of these incidents, which occurred during daytime Feb. 5 on Capitol Hill in the 700 block of Seventh Street SE, near Barracks Row. In the last incident on Tuesday, assailants used a baseball bat during the encounter in a building in the 1400 block of Girard Street NW, police said. No information was available about the condition of the victims. Two men and a woman were arrested in the last incident. The woman checked the victim’s pockets, police said. Frozen hose lines and water that turned to ice immediately made for treacherous firefighting conditions Saturday night at a Prince George’s County house fire, said Mark. E. Brady, spokesman for the county fire department. The fire was at a home in the 4900 block of Taylor Road in the Hyattsville Edmonston area. No injuries were reported, but three residents were displaced. — Terrence McCoy and Martin Weil Prince George’s County detectives are investigating the death of Osama El-Atari of Leesburg as a homicide after he was found in a pickup truck with a fatal gunshot wound Saturday in Upper Marlboro. Atari, 37, was pronounced dead at the scene in the 9000 block of Armstrong Lane. Officials said they are still seeking a motive and suspects in the case. Atari, a jailhouse informant from Loudoun County, was reported missing by family members Thursday. In 2010 he pleaded guilty to illegally obtaining about $71 million in loans and later received a reduction in his sentence for cooperating in two federal cases. — Perry Stein |