DISTRICT BRIEFING

Saturday, October 4, 2008

NORTHWEST

Men With Assault Weapons Rob Bank

Two men armed with military-style assault weapons robbed a Wachovia Bank branch in Northwest Washington about noon yesterday, stealing an undisclosed amount of cash, authorities said.

The men entered the bank, in the 4300 block of Connecticut Avenue, displaying the weapons and demanding money, D.C. police said. They fled in a red sport-utility vehicle, which was later found abandoned. Police said no one was hurt in the robbery.

-- Paul Duggan

Man Dies in Fire at Assisted Living Facility

A man was found dead yesterday evening after a fire in an apartment at the Harvard Towers, an assisted living facility in Northwest Washington, the D.C. fire department said.

Firefighters found the man about 5 p.m. on a couch that was burning in a second-floor apartment in the building in the 1800 block of Harvard Street NW, said Alan Etter, a spokesman for the D.C. Fire and Emergency Services Department. The man's name was not released.

The cause of death was not immediately clear, and the fire was under investigation last night. The nine-story building is near the National Zoo's entrance from Rock Creek Parkway.

-- Martin Weil

GEORGETOWN

Hate Crime Alleged in Attack on Gay Man

Two men have been charged with assaulting a gay man in Georgetown early yesterday in what D.C. police described as a hate crime.

Ruddad Abdulgader, 29, of the 1400 block of North Beauregard Street in Alexandria, and Saad Elorch, 32, of Dearborn, Mich., were charged with assault with a dangerous weapon under a D.C. law that allows for enhanced punishment if a crime is motivated by anti-gay bias. The two allegedly used a glass bottle to assault one of two gay men who were walking together along the C&O Canal about 3 a.m.

Police said the two used several anti-gay epithets before and during the attack. The victim was treated at a hospital for facial injuries.

-- Paul Duggan

SUPERIOR COURT

Detective Found Guilty of Assaulting Prisoner

A D.C. police detective was found guilty yesterday in a 2006 assault on a prisoner. D.C. Superior Court Judge Patricia Wynn found Detective Jose Medina, 47, guilty of misdemeanor simple assault in connection with an assault on a handcuffed prisoner in the 3rd District detectives office Oct. 14, 2006.

Medina, who has been on the District's police force for 22 years and has been a detective for five years, faces up to 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine when he is sentenced Nov. 7. Police spokeswoman Traci L. Hughes said that Medina was placed on unpaid leave and that the department has launched an internal investigation into the complaint.

-- Keith L. Alexander

NORTHEAST

Man Found Fatally Shot in His Home

A 46-year-old District man was found shot to death in his Northeast Washington apartment early yesterday, police said.

The body of Andre L. Judd, of the 1400 block of Holbrooke Street in the Trinidad neighborhood, was discovered shortly before 6 a.m. Police said he had been shot several times in the head and body.

-- Paul Duggan