By Clarence Williams and Martin Weil
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, June 29, 2008

Armed robbers tried to take a motorcycle last night from an off-duty officer in the uniformed division of the Secret Service, but the officer fired a shot to thwart the attempt, a Secret Service spokesman said.

The officer was unhurt in the confrontation, which occurred in the Largo area of Prince George's County, but the vehicle in which the robbers fled was later found bloody and abandoned, the spokesman said.

The incident occurred about 8:30 p.m. at a restaurant area on Capital Centre Boulevard. Four men in a sport-utility vehicle drove up to the officer, and two got out, one of them with a gun. He ordered the officer to lie down while the other took the motorcycle. The officer fired his pistol at the gun-wielding robber. Abandoning the motorcycle, the robbers fled in the SUV, which was found later in the District.