Gunmen

Two gunmen hijacked a vending machine company truck yesterday in East Baltimore, making off with more than $15,000, city police said.The driver for the Columbia Vending Service, who was servicing machines in a building in the 1200 block of Montford Avenue at 2:45 p.m., was about to walk back into his truck when he was approached from behind by the two men.One of them put a .38-caliber revolver to his head and forced him into the truck, police said.After...

Two gunmen took over a Hanover bank yesterday, forcing 20 customers and employees to the floor and robbing a customer and a manager of keys before fleeing with an undisclosed amount of money in the manager's car, FBI officials said.The robbery at the First National Bank branch in the 7500 block of Connelley Drive was the latest in a series of more aggressive robberies at banks in Anne Arundel County that have raised concerns among federal law enforcement officials."It's almost as if they have expectations based on the major TV movies on what to do in a bank robbery," said Stephen Tidwell, special agent at the Annapolis FBI bureau.

Four to six men drove up to a West Baltimore home last night, shot one man on the porch and then stormed inside and shot another fatally in the kitchen, police said.When police arrived at the home in the 2500 block of West Lauretta Avenue, they found the body of 28-year-old Kenneth King in the kitchen. He had been shot at least four times about 9 p.m. and was pronounced dead at the scene.On the porch, an unidentified 47-year-old man survived being shot in the left hand, right knee and left side.

WASHINGTON -- The Defense Department said yesterday that there would be more battles like the fierce attack on Somalian gunmen and capture of a warlord's weapons arsenal as U.S. and allied troops sought to "stabilize" the country.The "firestorm" that U.S. Marines rained on the clan positions in an arms-storage area in Mogadishu yesterday was by far the largest exercise of force since the troops arrived on their humanitarian mission Dec. 9.It appeared to signal a new phase in which far more aggressive action is to be taken to seize the heavy weapons from warring factions.

Two gunmen robbed a Severna Park photography store Thursday afternoon, county police reported.Officers said the gunmen walked into Buxton's Photography in the 400 block of Ritchie Highway and ordered employees and one customer into a back room.They took jewelry and money and told the victims to stay in the back room or they would kill them.The victims waited for about an hour and then came out when they heard other customers in the store, police said. Police said one gunman was armed with a sawed-off shotgun and the other with an automatic handgun.

Two men with handguns and bandannas over their faces burst into a Wendy's restaurant in the Dogwood Station shopping center in the 2300 block of N. Rolling Road about 12:30 p.m. yesterday, shot a store manager and fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of money, police said. The manager was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center with life-threatening injuries and was immediately taken into surgery, said Cpl. Michael Hill, a Baltimore County police spokesman. He is listed in critical condition, Hill said.

A group playing cards at a Pasadena pool hall were robbed early Monday when masked gunmen crashed the game and took their cash, Anne Arundel County police said. About 3:45 a.m., four men brandishing a machine gun and several pistols walked into Star Billiards and began barking orders at the group and a few others playing pool, said police spokesman Lt. Joseph E. Jordan. After cash, cell phones, jewelry and other personal property were taken, the victims were moved into the rear of the hall, where they were told to lie on the floor or to get into a closet, Jordan said.

A 3-year-old boy was shot in the head and two other people -- the boy's mother and a customer -- were wounded when gunmen burst into a West Baltimore barbershop yesterday and sprayed it with gunfire from semiautomatic weapons, a city police spokesman said.James Smith III, whose third birthday was yesterday, was reported in very grave condition last night at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center, said Agent Robert W. Weinhold Jr., the spokesman.The child's 23-year-old mother, Cheryl Whittington of the first block of S. Carey St., was shot in the right arm and was being treated at the University of Maryland Medical Center, Weinhold said.

Two masked gunmen robbed a McDonald's restaurant on Route 140 in Westminster early yesterdayand forced five employees into a walk-in freezer, state police said.The restaurant manager, who was not identified in police reports, was beaten during the 12: 20 a.m. incident at 520 Baltimore Blvd., according to state police at the Westminster barracks.He suffered several cuts to the head and was taken by state MedEvac helicopter to the Maryland Shock Trauma center in Baltimore, where he was treated and released, police said.

JERUSALEM - Masked Palestinian gunmen carried out execution-style killings yesterday of two Palestinians suspected of being informants for Israel and placed their bodies in the central square of the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. Palestinian militants have killed dozens of suspected informers or collaborators during the past three years of fighting. Such attacks often draw little attention, but the gunmen responsible for this shooting sought to publicize their deed both beforehand and afterward.