www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19740787
Washington Post A gate-crasher's change of heart Gunman bursts into party, tastes cheese and wine, gets hug, then leaves IMAGE: Michael Rabdau Ricky Carioti / The Washington Post Michael Rabdau and his family were almost the victims of a gunman who demanded money in the backyard of a friends' Capitol Hill home after dinner.
Suddenly, a hooded man slid in through an open gate and put the barrel of a handgun to the head of a 14-year-old guest. "Give me your money, or I'll start shooting," he demanded, according to DC police and witness accounts. The five other guests, including the girls' parents, froze -- and then one spoke. "We were just finishing dinner," Cristina "Cha Cha" Rowan, 43, blurted out. The intruder took a sip of their Chateau Malescot St-Exupry and said, "Damn, that's good wine." The girl's father, Michael Rabdau, 51, who described the harrowing evening in an interview, told the intruder, described as being in his 20s, to take the whole glass. The would-be robber, his hood now down, took another sip and had a bite of Camembert cheese that was on the table. "I think I may have come to the wrong house," he said, looking around the patio of the home in the 1300 block of Constitution Avenue NE.
Falls Church and works part time at her children's school, stood up and wrapped her arms around him. "That's really good wine," the man said, taking another sip. With that, the man walked out with a crystal wine glass in hand, filled with Chateau Malescot. The homeowner, Xavier Cervera, 45, had gone out to walk his dog at the end of the party and missed the incident, which happened about midnight June 16. Police classified the case as strange but true and said they had not located a suspect. Diane Groomes, who is in charge of patrols in the Capitol Hill area. But it's one-of-a-kind, she said, adding, "I've never heard of a robber joining a party and then walking out to the sunset." "They should have squeezed him and held onto him for us," she said. Rabdau said he hasn't been able to figure out what happened. "I was definitely expecting there would be some kind of casualty," Rabdau said this week.
Anne Arundel County with his family and lived on Capitol Hill with his wife in the 1980s, said that the episode lasted about 10 minutes but seemed like an hour. He believes the guests were spared because they kept a positive attitude during the exchange. "There was this degree of disbelief and terror at the same time," Rabdau said. His whole emotional tone turned -- like, we're one big happy family now. After the intruder left, the guests walked inside the house, locked the door and stared at each other. They also dusted for fingerprints -- so far, to no avail. In the alley behind the home, investigators found the intruder's empty crystal wine glass on the ground, unbroken.
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