For Immediate Release: Tuesday, November 1, 2022
Gaithersburg, MD - Three adult males are in custody following an armed robbery and pursuit Monday afternoon in Montgomery County’s 3rd district.
On October 31, 2022, at approximately 2:41 p.m., 3rd District officers responded to the 9300 block of Piney Branch Rd. for an armed robbery. The victim gave officers a description of the suspect vehicle, a Toyota Sienna. Officers located the suspects at the White Oak Shopping Center. The suspects drove off, heading southbound on RT 29 towards Georgia Ave. Officers pursued the Toyota until it crashed into the rear end of a Metro bus on Georgia Ave. near Sligo Ave.
A Montgomery County Police cruiser subsequently crashed into the rear of the suspect vehicle.
Two male suspects were taken into custody right away and Montgomery County Fire Rescue extricated a third male suspect from the crashed vehicle. A loaded 9mm privately made firearm (ghost gun) with a Glock slide and a 9mm replica airsoft gun were recovered during the arrests.
All three suspects, 18-year-old Natnael Akalu of Silver Spring; 18-year-old Wesley Jose Nunez of Washington, DC and 19-year-old Lorenzo Antonio Madrid of Washington, DC, were transported to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries. Each has been charged with armed robbery, use of a firearm during the commission of a felony violent crime, possession of a handgun and other related charges.
No officers were injured during this incident and no serious injuries of passengers on the Metro Bus have been reported. All three suspects are still hospitalized. No mugshots are available.
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Release ID: 22-520
Media Contact: S.D. Goff
Categories: arrest