Rick Oleka and his girlfriend, Abby Sevcik, have been on a stroll Wednesday afternoon with Pablo, their newly adopted Australian shepherd, simply 11 weeks previous. They have been in Shaw in Northwest Washington when Sevcik ducked right into a CVS.
Washington
Four males take two dogs at gunpoint in separate robberies in D.C.
Oleka mentioned he felt a gun pressed in opposition to him and heard the assailant say, “Let me get your canine.”
One other male scooped up Pablo, Oleka mentioned, whereas two others took his cellphone and pockets.
D.C. police mentioned Oleka was a sufferer in one in every of three armed robberies and a taking pictures that occurred Wednesday afternoon in a 35-minute span that began after 4 p.m. in Brightwood Park and continued in Shaw and Eckington and close to the NoMa-Gallaudet Metro station.
These assaults embody the taking of one other pet — a 1-year-old French bulldog named Bruno — that additionally was nabbed at gunpoint about quarter-hour earlier than Pablo was taken, police mentioned.
Police have posted footage of Pablo and Bruno on Twitter and their webpage, trying to find the canines and the individuals who took them because the pet homeowners scour the Web to see if the canines are being offered.
In the meantime, the scary and irritating ordeal of being victims of an armed theft has began to set in for Oleka and Sevcik.
“It was broad daylight,” mentioned Oleka, 30, a company lawyer. “There was a police officer not too far-off. There was a safety guard on the CVS. There have been a number of incidents that they’ve seemingly carried out with this automobile, and at this cut-off date, they’ve escaped.”
The armed holdups come because the District faces a 30 % rise in violent crime this yr, pushed largely by a close to 60 % surge in robberies, from 456 at the moment in 2021 to 725 this yr.
Homicides, which rose for the fourth consecutive yr in 2021, are barely down this yr, although carjackings and gunfire proceed to lift issues. Monday evening, a 15-year-old was fatally shot in Columbia Heights, one other signal of a metropolis struggling to revive a way of security.
A Washington Publish ballot performed this yr discovered that 3 in 10 D.C. residents don’t really feel secure of their neighborhoods.
The primary theft occurred abut 4:12 p.m. when 4 males obtained out of a automobile within the 5400 block of Kansas Avenue NW, in Brightwood Park.
A police report says the group approached a person as he walked his canine. One male displayed a gun and demanded the canine, Bruno, and the proprietor’s private gadgets. The assailants escaped within the automobile with Bruno, a cellphone and a pockets. Bruno had a black collar and leash.
At 4:29 p.m., police mentioned they suppose the identical folks grabbed Pablo outdoors the CVS, at Eighth Road and Florida Avenue, simply south of Howard College Hospital.
Oleka and Sevcik, 27, knowledgeable singer, mentioned that they had gotten Pablo on April 2 from K9 Lifesavers, a nonprofit rescue group that has added $5,000 to a $10,000 police reward. The couple mentioned they initially deliberate to foster Pablo, who has black and brown fur and a blue eye, however rapidly realized he was their perpetually companion.
“He’s only a showstopper,” Sevcik mentioned. “In every single place we take him out in public, folks say he’s lovable.” She mentioned Pablo is a mixture and possibly “not value what the robbers thought.”
The couple stayed up all evening looking the Web for any signal of Pablo. Sevcik posted on Fb, writing that she and Oleka are “completely devastated and praying for a secure return of Pablo who we have already got utterly fallen in love with in such a short while.”
Sevcik mentioned Oleka’s stolen cellphone is pinging close to the NoMa-Gallaudet Metro station, and he or she hopes which may lead them or police to Pablo. Police mentioned they’ve recovered the Audi.
Simply minutes after Pablo was taken, at 4:38 p.m., police mentioned they suppose the identical assailants have been in Northeast Washington’s Eckington neighborhood, the place two males have been reported shot within the 2100 block of Fourth Road NE. Police mentioned the lads suffered accidents not considered life threatening. Police didn’t say whether or not the lads have been shot in an tried theft.
Police mentioned they suppose the identical group at 4:48 p.m. robbed an individual at gunpoint within the 1300 block of Second Road NE, close to the NoMa-Gallaudet Metro station.
Oleka and Sevcik mentioned the ordeal has them rethinking their place within the District. Oleka mentioned he was pissed off by the preliminary response from police, saying it appeared a wrestle for detectives to piece collectively the crimes.
However Sevcik mentioned she has been heartened by the outpouring of assist and assistance on social media.
“That’s a tiny silver lining in all this,” she mentioned. “We really feel very supported by the folks of the District.”