Mall Robberies, Five Apprehended

The five robbers who frightened and assaulted tourists on the Mall in recent months were a group of young neighborhood friends who were bored and chose the site by the Natural History Museum because they thought it was a "sweet spot," officials said yesterday.

U.S. Park Police have charged the District residents, ages 16 to 22, with crimes related to five incidents on the Mall in which 12 tourists were attacked, some of them viciously, in May and July. Officials said the suspects were traced through credit cards and a stolen cellphone.

"Tourists who had once walked in admiration of our monuments now walked in fear -- in fear of the dangers that lurked in their shadows," U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Wainstein said. Standing before the Washington Monument, he said the arrests were made during the past two weeks. "Virtually overnight, this place of public pride became a place of public danger."

The Mall crimes were part of a 14 percent increase in robberies this year in the District. Wainstein said "hundreds" of robberies have occurred in the past few months. Some of the sharpest increases have been in Adams Morgan, Columbia Heights and other densely populated areas north of downtown.


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