By Debbi Wilgoren
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 14, 2008

D.C. police are investigating a brazen abduction and robbery that unfolded Wednesday night in the Congress Heights neighborhood of Southeast Washington.

Police said three masked men, all holding handguns, forced a 57-year-old man into his car in the 3800 block of Second Street SE shortly after 8 p.m.

The group traveled in the car -- a 2000 beige Chevrolet Malibu -- to a park area, where the gunmen told the man to remove his shoes and lie on the ground, police said.

The gunmen fired multiple shots into the ground around the man, then ordered him into the car and drove back to his home.

There, police said, two of the gunmen escorted the man into the house, tied up a 56-year-old woman who was inside and stole "multiple items" from the residence.

The two gunmen then returned to the car, where the third gunman was waiting, and the trio drove south on Second Street in the car belonging to the victims.

Police did not have detailed descriptions of the assailants but said they were black and wore dark-colored clothing. One was described as 6 feet tall with a thin build, and two were 5-foot-9, one with a medium build, one with a thin build. All carried handguns, police said.