News4’s Kristin Wright reports on a troubling new trend: police say Latino construction workers and landscapers are being targeted by armed robbers.
A group of robbers has been targeting Latino construction workers and landscapers in a string of armed robberies across Northeast D.C., police said.
“Suspects have been targeting members of our Latino community while they’re working on home renovation sites or homes under construction,” D.C. police commander Leslie Parsons said.
In less than an hour Monday morning, the group had visited three different scenes and robbed nine victims, police said.
The spree started 11:35 a.m. on the 2800 block of 30th Street NE, where two roofers were working on a house. Two masked people approached the workers. One of them was holding a gun and demanded money, police said.
The roofers handed over a wallet and a phone and the masked robbers then fled, according to police.
About 11:45 a.m., police say three suspects approached four people were standing in a parking lot on Bladensburg Road -- one-tenth of a mile from the scene of the first robbery.
One suspect showed a gun and demanded the victims hand over their property, police said.
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One of the victims refused, and a suspect fired the gun at the victim, police said.
The robbers took the victim’s property and fled the scene, police said. No one was injured, according to police.
About 12:10 p.m., robbers struck again. Three workers were at a home on the 3000 block of Yost Place, NE. The three suspects approached, and robbed the workers at gunpoint, police said.
The victims complied, according to police.
The suspects fled in a black car with paint fading off the hood, police said.
Police advise people to avoid carrying large sums of cash and concealing their phones to avoid catching the attention of robbers.
