A Police Chase, an Intruder, A Frying Pan and an Arrest

Gary and Trudy Peterson had finished dinner the other night when they heard what sounded like a wild police chase outside their Capitol Hill rowhouse.

Gary Peterson, a retired lawyer, opened his back door and saw a helicopter overhead and dozens of police officers near his house. Then he saw a teenager run into his yard -- a youth who, unbeknownst to Peterson, was suspected of committing an armed robbery and shooting at police.

"He's in here!" Peterson yelled to the officers from his back porch.

Suddenly, the teenager darted into Peterson's kitchen. And then, at 9:30 Wednesday night, the two were face to face.

Without thinking, Peterson grabbed a copper frying pan and smacked the youth on the head.

"I think he was shocked," Peterson, 62, said yesterday. "I don't think he expected somebody like me to haul off and whack him."

The suspect, identified by police as Darnell Gant, 17, ran out of the kitchen and toward Peterson's basement door, which he kicked in. Then, police said, Gant barricaded himself in the basement, starting a 2 1/2 -hour standoff that ended with his surrender.

Police said Gant led them on a 90 mph chase across the city, shooting at officers and running over a bicyclist.

Gant was charged as an adult yesterday with armed robbery and held without bond after a hearing at D.C. Superior Court.

Authorities said police were looking for Gant in recent weeks because he had escaped from a group home, and they wanted to question him about a half-dozen robberies.

The trouble started about 9:15 p.m. Wednesday, when a man told police he had been robbed by two teenagers with a gun at 41st Street and Benning Road NE, according to charging papers filed in court. Police issued a lookout for a red Jeep. Soon after, officers saw a car matching the description and gave chase, according to the court papers.

Near 18th Street and Maryland Avenue NE, four teenagers bailed out of the car, and police arrested three of them, authorities said. The fourth, who police believe was Gant, ran to a stolen sport utility vehicle that was parked and peeled off, according to charging papers.