"Police said they do not know why the pair was sitting in the bus area of the station at a time when no Metro trains or buses were running."
It seems funny to me that the police were so concerned why the man and woman were sitting in the bus area of the station instead of why the other man was trying to rob them.
'Metro Police Chief Polly Hanson said passengers should not be worried about crime at Metro stations. "This shows great police work by Metro Transit Police," she said. "We've closed every case. We've locked up anybody who's come on our property."'
If this was such "...great police work...", why could the police not have prevented the shootings altogether. Now that would have been great police work.
Two Men Shot in Metro Station Robbery Attempt
By Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 11, 2003; Page B02
An Upper Marlboro man was in custody at Prince George's Hospital Center yesterday after he robbed a woman at gunpoint but then was shot by her companion in a scuffle outside the New Carrollton Metro station about 2:30 a.m., transit police said.
Police said Ahmand Robinson, 20, approached a man and a woman sitting on a bench outside the Metro station in the bus area near Ellin Road. Robinson displayed a handgun and demanded the woman's purse, Officer Linda Foxwell of Metro Transit Police said. Police would not identify the other man and the woman, who live in New Carrollton, saying they are witnesses to the crime.
The woman handed over the purse but a struggle ensued between Robinson and the other man, Foxwell said. Robinson was shot in the chest several times and the other man was shot in the hand, she said.
Robinson dropped the purse and fled the station but later called another person to pick him up and take him to the hospital, Foxwell said. The man who was shot in the hand also called someone for help and was taken to Washington Hospital Center, she said. Police recovered a handgun and the purse at the scene, Foxwell said.
Robinson was in critical but stable condition and under police guard at the hospital, Foxwell said. He was not conscious, she said.
The man with the wounded hand was treated at the hospital and released; the woman was not hurt, Foxwell said. Police said they do not know why the pair was sitting in the bus area of the station at a time when no Metro trains or buses were running. New Carrollton is the last stop on the Maryland leg of the Orange Line. It hosts a MARC station, which also serves Amtrak, but both of those rail lines had stopped local service for the night.
While Transit Police patrol Metro stations round-the-clock, there were no officers at the New Carrollton station at the time of the shooting, Foxwell said.
In 2002, there were two armed robberies at New Carrollton. Yesterday's incident was the second armed robbery this year at the station, Transit Police said.
The shootings were the latest in a recent string of violent episodes at Metro stations.
In April, a woman was shot and wounded on a Green Line train by an acquaintance who police said was showing off a gun. Last month, two passengers emerged from a Green Line train at College Park and walked outside, where one fatally stabbed the other, police said. Arrests were made in both cases.
Metro Police Chief Polly Hanson said passengers should not be worried about crime at Metro stations. "This shows great police work by Metro Transit Police," she said. "We've closed every case. We've locked up anybody who's come on our property."