For the fifth-grade boys of Cub Scout Den 2, Pack 737 at the Norwood School in Bethesda, an overnight stay at the National Aquarium was, as their den leader Nanci Gosnell put it, "too cool to pass up."
The 10 children arrived at the Inner Harbor attraction Friday afternoon, dined on lasagna and brownies, walked across the top of the shark tank, toured the rain forest exhibit after the aquarium had closed for the night, and camped out in sleeping bags next to the dolphins.
But when they left Saturday morning to head home in two Cadillac Escalades parked spaces apart at the Landmark garage on Gay Street, the chaperons and children discovered that someone had broken out both vehicles' windows, ransacked the interiors and stolen an iPod and a GPS device.
Gosnell called 911 at 9:14 a.m. and said she told the dispatcher the address and her precise location on the second floor.
They huddled in 38-degree temperatures and waited.
Gosnell spied a screwdriver and a metal pipe on the front seat of one of the SUVs.
They waited some more.
Gosnell noticed that her glove compartment had been pried open and the car manuals and compact discs tossed about.
They waited some more.
Gosnell found a dent near a door and signs that someone had tried to pry out a DVD player installed in a seat.
While they waited, they found black trash bags, ripped them apart and taped them over the broken windows.
Finally, at 11:05 a.m., Gosnell packed up the kids and drove to the attendant. She handed him the screwdriver and pipe, refused to pay the $30 fee and drove home with a cold wind blowing through both vehicles.
"One little child told me, 'I know what happens when you call 911: The police come. They come in three minutes. That's what happens on TV,' " Gosnell said. "So all the way home, I had to explain why the police didn't come, why they didn't care."
Baltimore police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi confirmed Gosnell's 911 call and said that an officer notified dispatch of a response at 10:05 a.m. He said the officer was delayed because he had been helping a colleague on another call. At 10:21 a.m., the officer notified dispatch that he couldn't find the complainant and at 10:53 a.m. the call was closed.
Later, the spokesman said the Central District commander, Maj. John Bailey, pulled the officer's "run sheet" - a list of activities and calls - and discovered that the officer mistakenly went to a garage at 100 South St., instead of the garage two blocks away at 100 S. Gay St., where Gosnell was parked.
