2dogs
April 7, 2003, 07:02 AM
Why this calls for stronger gun laws!
:rolleyes:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41673-2003Apr6.html
Three Employees of Popular D.C. Restaurant Found Dead
Triple Homicide Stuns Neighborhood
By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 6, 2003; 5:00 PM
Three employees of a popular Brookland restaurant in Northeast Washington were found shot to death in a kitchen freezer this morning in an apparent robbery attempt that stunned community leaders and residents of a middle-class neighborhood near Catholic University.
The victims, two men and a woman, were employees of Colonel Brooks’ Tavern at 901 Monroe Street N.E., a neighborhood landmark frequented by students, faculty and nuns and priests from the university, as well as residents and city political leaders.
Metropolitan Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey said police responded to a 911 emergency call reporting the sound of gunshots and a possible robbery at about 8:15 a.m. Ramsey said that police had no “eyeball witness,” but were canvassing the neighborhood in hopes of finding people who had noticed suspicious activity. Police have not yet determined whether money was missing because employees have not been allowed back to the crime scene.
Metropolitan Police late yesterday afternoon identified the victims as a 47-year-old man from Northwest Washington and 48-year-old woman and 34-year-old man from Maryland. Names were being withheld pending notification of family, police spokesman Sgt. Joe Gentile said.
The workers at that time of the day normally included a head chef, cook and dishwasher who came in to prepare for Sunday brunch, employees said. Two of the victims showed no signs of life, but one man was evacuated to Washington Hospital Center where he, too, was shortly declared dead. None was a student, Ramsey said. Police did not release their identities pending notification of their families.
The brutal slayings at a neighborhood restaurant evoked instant memories of a 1997 triple homicide of workers during a bungled robbery at a Georgetown Starbucks coffee shop. Those backroom killings traumatized the high-rent, low-crime business district until the killer was brought to justice two years later.
“It was a triple homicide. It was all employees. There are some parallels,” Ramsey said in an interview. “And the person responsible for Starbucks is in jail.”
Detectives interviewed the tavern’s owner and manager at police headquarters yesterday. Meanwhile, behind a cordon of yellow police tape that encircled a full block around the restaurant, crime scene technicians and city medical examiner forensic teams scoured the rear parking lot, back door and kitchen. Workers removed the last of the bodies around noon but continued dusting doors for finger prints and processing the crime scene for hours before allowing anyone inside.
“Something like this, on a Sunday morning at 8 a.m., it’s the kind of thing that blows you away,” said D.C. Council Member Vincent Orange (D-Ward 5), who was at the scene after learning word of the tragedy while attending church. “This place is a community treasure,” said Orange, who said the restaurant is a regular stop for civic leaders, including Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D). “To see something like this happen is shocking and deplorable.”
Among regular customers, neighbors and students who passed by or gathered outside on Monroe Street, grief was palpable. Orange and others said there is occasional street crime in the area and a rare shooting, but that the neighborhood has thrived and business has grown in recent years.
“When you think of Colonel Brooks’, you think of Brookland,” said Joyce Mortimer, a resident of Silver Spring who is attending a computer job training center across the street. “They’ve contributed a lot to the neighborhood. It’s a neighborhood anchor.”
“It was a diverse, warm, friendly place,” said Barbara Flint, of Mount Vernon Square, a regular Sunday brunch guest who said employees would stop by the tavern’s wooden tables and chairs and to ask what book she was reading and chat.
“I am devastated,” said Kelly Barton, 31, a consultant and customer. “What I worry the most is who they are and I’m almost certain I know them.
Margaret Keanveny, 21, a junior at Catholic University who lives across the street from the tavern, said she and her friends had just dined at the restaurant the night before. Beth Bowes, 24, a graduate student from Warrenton, Va., said students, especially undergraduates, loved to stop by after class to mingle with local residents as well as faculty.
:rolleyes:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41673-2003Apr6.html
Three Employees of Popular D.C. Restaurant Found Dead
Triple Homicide Stuns Neighborhood
By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 6, 2003; 5:00 PM
Three employees of a popular Brookland restaurant in Northeast Washington were found shot to death in a kitchen freezer this morning in an apparent robbery attempt that stunned community leaders and residents of a middle-class neighborhood near Catholic University.
The victims, two men and a woman, were employees of Colonel Brooks’ Tavern at 901 Monroe Street N.E., a neighborhood landmark frequented by students, faculty and nuns and priests from the university, as well as residents and city political leaders.
Metropolitan Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey said police responded to a 911 emergency call reporting the sound of gunshots and a possible robbery at about 8:15 a.m. Ramsey said that police had no “eyeball witness,” but were canvassing the neighborhood in hopes of finding people who had noticed suspicious activity. Police have not yet determined whether money was missing because employees have not been allowed back to the crime scene.
Metropolitan Police late yesterday afternoon identified the victims as a 47-year-old man from Northwest Washington and 48-year-old woman and 34-year-old man from Maryland. Names were being withheld pending notification of family, police spokesman Sgt. Joe Gentile said.
The workers at that time of the day normally included a head chef, cook and dishwasher who came in to prepare for Sunday brunch, employees said. Two of the victims showed no signs of life, but one man was evacuated to Washington Hospital Center where he, too, was shortly declared dead. None was a student, Ramsey said. Police did not release their identities pending notification of their families.
The brutal slayings at a neighborhood restaurant evoked instant memories of a 1997 triple homicide of workers during a bungled robbery at a Georgetown Starbucks coffee shop. Those backroom killings traumatized the high-rent, low-crime business district until the killer was brought to justice two years later.
“It was a triple homicide. It was all employees. There are some parallels,” Ramsey said in an interview. “And the person responsible for Starbucks is in jail.”
Detectives interviewed the tavern’s owner and manager at police headquarters yesterday. Meanwhile, behind a cordon of yellow police tape that encircled a full block around the restaurant, crime scene technicians and city medical examiner forensic teams scoured the rear parking lot, back door and kitchen. Workers removed the last of the bodies around noon but continued dusting doors for finger prints and processing the crime scene for hours before allowing anyone inside.
“Something like this, on a Sunday morning at 8 a.m., it’s the kind of thing that blows you away,” said D.C. Council Member Vincent Orange (D-Ward 5), who was at the scene after learning word of the tragedy while attending church. “This place is a community treasure,” said Orange, who said the restaurant is a regular stop for civic leaders, including Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D). “To see something like this happen is shocking and deplorable.”
Among regular customers, neighbors and students who passed by or gathered outside on Monroe Street, grief was palpable. Orange and others said there is occasional street crime in the area and a rare shooting, but that the neighborhood has thrived and business has grown in recent years.
“When you think of Colonel Brooks’, you think of Brookland,” said Joyce Mortimer, a resident of Silver Spring who is attending a computer job training center across the street. “They’ve contributed a lot to the neighborhood. It’s a neighborhood anchor.”
“It was a diverse, warm, friendly place,” said Barbara Flint, of Mount Vernon Square, a regular Sunday brunch guest who said employees would stop by the tavern’s wooden tables and chairs and to ask what book she was reading and chat.
“I am devastated,” said Kelly Barton, 31, a consultant and customer. “What I worry the most is who they are and I’m almost certain I know them.
Margaret Keanveny, 21, a junior at Catholic University who lives across the street from the tavern, said she and her friends had just dined at the restaurant the night before. Beth Bowes, 24, a graduate student from Warrenton, Va., said students, especially undergraduates, loved to stop by after class to mingle with local residents as well as faculty.