2 Trail Users Attacked Near Busy Retail Area

Montgomery County police are investigating two robberies and assaults last week on walkers along a popular hiking and biking path near downtown Bethesda's shopping and entertainment district.

Police said two men were attacked but not seriously injured in separate incidents Thursday and Friday. Detectives are investigating similar descriptions of suspects in both cases, as well as common times and locations, police said. No weapons were seen in either attack, police said.

Both occurred during midday on the Georgetown Branch Trail, a future extension of the Capital Crescent Trail between Bethesda and Silver Spring. The walkers said they were just east of an 800-foot-long tunnel that runs beneath Wisconsin Avenue and connects the trail to Woodmont Avenue, near Barnes & Noble and the Bethesda Row shops, offices and restaurants.

Violent attacks are almost unheard of on the tree-lined, gravel path that runs past residential fences in Chevy Chase and East Bethesda. It is used by an estimated 10,000 cyclists, joggers and stroller-pushing walkers every week, according to the Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail, a volunteer group supporting the trail.

Russ Hamill, commander of the Bethesda police district, said trail-related problems usually involve arguments between cyclists and slower-moving walkers.

"For us, this is very uncommon," Hamill said. "Detectives are working this case very hard. . . . Setting aside these two attacks last week, the trail is still a safe area."

Still, Hamill said, because of the violent nature of the assaults, police have stepped up patrols in the area.

The first attack occurred at 1:55 p.m. Thursday, when a 50-year-old Olney man who works in Bethesda told police he was walking on the trail just east of the tunnel, near Elm Street Park. Two teenagers, both 14 to 16 years old, knocked the man down from behind, struck him while he was on the ground and demanded money, police said. The teenagers ran away through the tunnel, toward Woodmont, with $20 and a cellphone, the man told police.

The next day, a 17-year-old Bethesda youth said he was walking west toward the tunnel about 1:30 p.m. when he passed three men he didn't know standing along the trail. Shortly after, police said, he was hit on the cheek and told to get on the ground.

He was struck again on the cheek while at least one of the attackers frisked him, the youth told police. The suspects took $13, a school ID, driver's license, iPod and cellphone before running into the tunnel toward Woodmont, police said. The ages of those three suspects weren't available, police said.

Ernie Brooks, a board member of the trail coalition, said that although graffiti and other vandalism have been problems in the tunnel since it opened in 1998, he hadn't heard of any attacks there.

"Hopefully this is just an aberration and not something that will become a problem," he said.

Police recommended using the path in pairs and not wearing headphones.