Knifepoint

Anne Arundel County police are looking for a man who they say robbed a clerk in a hospital cafe at knifepoint Sunday evening. Police say the cafe worker at the Baltimore Washington Medical Center in Glen Burnie told them a man came in about 8 p.m., stepped behind her, showed her the knife and demanded cash from the register. She complied and was not hurt. The man left, police said. - Andrea F. Siegel

City police have charged two women - one who was released from jail recently after prosecutors dropped armed carjacking charges against her - in connection at least four knife-point robberies in the Federal Hill area, a spokesman said.  Officers received a report of a robbery Thursday night at about 7 p.m. in the 900 block of Harden Pl. and a description of the suspects was broadcast to officers. They found the two suspects walking in the 1100 block of Hanover St., said Detective Jeremy Silbert, a police spokesman.  Police arrested Sharticia Bryant, 21, and Keaira Vanzandt, 19, and have charged them in the Thursday robbery.

A Severn teen-ager was robbed of an undetermined amount of money Sunday by a man wielding a knife, county police said.The 17-year-old told police that he was approached by a man near the Food Max convenience store in the 1600 block of Annapolis Road in Odenton about 11 a.m.The man pulled out a 5-inch knife and demanded money, police said. The thief was last seen riding a bicycle eastbound on Route 175.Pub Date: 10/29/96

University of Maryland College Park police are looking for two men who robbed a student at knifepoint Thursday evening. University police said the robbery was the first reported on the campus in the past 12 months. The male student was alone, walking from a parking lot near Cecil Hall, a women's dormitory, at about 11:45 p.m. Two men, dressed in dark clothing and wearing masks, approached and threatened the student with a knife, police said. Police did not disclose what was taken from the student, whose identity and age are not being released.

A 37-year-old woman was raped Saturday at knifepoint in a Severna Park home, county police said yesterday.The woman told police that a man drove her to a home in the 800 block of Manhattan Beach Road at 1:36 a.m. and raped her. She fled from the house and called police. Police said the woman was treated at North Arundel Hospital and released.Police have a suspect but have not made an arrest.

University of Maryland College Park police are looking for two men who robbed a student at knifepoint Thursday evening. University police said the robbery was the first reported on the campus in the past 12 months. The male student was alone, walking from a parking lot near Cecil Hall, a women's dormitory, at about 11:45 p.m. Two men, dressed in dark clothing and wearing masks, approached and threatened the student with a knife, police said. Police did not disclose what was taken from the student, whose identity and age are not being released.

A 15-year-old boy was robbed of his wallet at knifepoint on Ritchie Highway near Sixth Avenue Wednesday evening, county police reported.The teen-ager, whom police would not identify, was walking along the side of the road at 6:50 p.m. when he walked past a man, who then grabbed him and took his wallet.The teen-ager described the robber as a black man, about 19 years old, with a stocky build.He was wearing a knit hat, a full-length winter coat and blue jeans.

A 49-year-old Pikesville man was robbed at knifepoint Sunday afternoon in the 600 block of Bay Green Drive in Arnold by a man he picked up in Baltimore, county police said yesterday.Christian Wohlgemuth, of the 8200 block of Scotts Level Road, told investigating officers that he picked up the man around noon on Remington Avenue and took him to a bar on Greenmount Avenue where they had several drinks.Later, Mr. Wohlgemuth told police, he drove the man to Whitelock Avenue to buy a $10 bag of heroin and back to his apartment in the 200 block of Lorraine Ave., where he injected the drugs.

A man and a woman robbed a Crown gas station in the 200 block of Aquahart Road at knifepoint early Sunday of an undisclosed amount of money, county police said.A woman approached the clerk shortly after 2 a.m. and asked to use the bathroom in the clerk's booth, according to police. When the clerk opened the door, a man with a large knife forced his way in, police said.The clerk gave the man the money, and the couple ran south on Crain Highway, police said.Police are looking for a white man described as 5 feet 5 inches tall, with a thin build, and wearing a red, hooded sweat shirt.

A cabdriver was robbed at knifepoint Sunday by two men he picked up on Pioneer Drive, county police said yesterday.The driver, Elmer McNeir, 55, of the 7800 block of Sellmer Road, sustained small cuts on his left wrist.Mr. McNeir went to the 8600 block of Pioneer Drive around 9 p.m. and picked up two men. One sat behind Mr. McNeir, the other in the front seat next to him, police said.The front-seat passenger implied that he had a gun and demanded money as the back-seat passenger put Mr. McNeir in a neck hold and held a knife to his throat, police said.

A former Baltimore County prosecutor was convicted Friday of armed carjacking and robbery for stealing a car at knifepoint from two women outside a store in January last year, according to the State's Attorney's Office. Isaiah Dixon, 55, was ordered to the Baltimore County Detention Center and is scheduled to be sentenced June 1. Dixon had worked as an assistant state's attorney for nearly eight years, until July 1997, and was in private practice until he was disbarred in 2010 after a history of drug problems and his arrest in the carjacking.

Baltimore County police on Monday released surveillance photos of two of the three men suspected of a carjacking last month in which a man's car was taken at knifepoint. The victim was unloading groceries in his driveway on the 5400 block of Edmondson Ave. shortly after noon on Feb. 16 when he was approached by three men about 18 to 21 years old, police said. One of the men displayed a knife and demanded the victim's car keys. They also took an undisclosed amount of money and his Independence Card, a state-issued card that enables people to obtain cash and food benefits, according to a police account of the crime.

Anne Arundel County police are looking for a man who they say robbed a clerk in a hospital cafe at knifepoint Sunday evening. Police say the cafe worker at the Baltimore Washington Medical Center in Glen Burnie told them a man came in about 8 p.m., stepped behind her, showed her the knife and demanded cash from the register. She complied and was not hurt. The man left, police said. - Andrea F. Siegel

A man was shot by Baltimore police yesterday morning in the 500 block of Halfmile Court near the Seton Hill section of downtown Baltimore, police say. Police received a call about 3:45 a.m. with reports that a man was holding his 4-year-old granddaughter at knifepoint and had barricaded himself and the child in the home, said Troy Harris, a police spokesman. The police SWAT team and hostage negotiators were called to the scene, he said, and negotiated with the man, identified as Samuel Cosby, 48, for more than an hour and a half.

Shirley Sutton was returning home from a morning of errands when she noticed a car behind hers pull off to the side of the road near her Pikesville townhouse. As the petite grandmother gathered her things from the back seat of her Jaguar, two women grabbed her, squirted pepper spray in her face, threw her against the garage wall and forced her back into her car. For several minutes, they drove around, holding Sutton at knifepoint until she convinced them that she had neither an ATM card nor a PIN number, and offered the robbers her $25,000 Cartier watch.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The government completed its case against Zacarias Moussaoui yesterday with its most chilling piece of evidence, a tape from the cockpit of United Airlines Flight 93 that recorded the terrorists overwhelming the pilots on Sept. 11, 2001, slashing their throats and praising Allah before crashing the jet into a Pennsylvania field. The 32-minute recording begins at 9:31 a.m. with terrorists forcing the two pilots at knifepoint to give up control of the aircraft. Apparently dragged outside the cockpit, the pilots can be heard begging for their lives.

Howard County police are looking for a man they say raped a 38-year-old woman at knifepoint in her townhouse in the Wheatfields neighborhood of Ellicott City on Wednesday night.The woman told police she was home alone and that the assailant broke into the house about 9 p.m. and forced her into a bedroom, where she was sexually assaulted.According to a report, the woman told police the rapist fled about 11 p.m. The woman was taken to Howard County General Hospital by police a short time later.

A Baltimore handyman was arrested yesterday on armed carjacking, cocaine possession and related charges after allegedly forcing a man at knifepoint from a truck in Finksburg, court documents showed.Police said Charles Stair called 911 from Bird View Road early yesterday. He told police a passenger asked to borrow his truck. When Stair refused, the man tried to kick him out of the moving vehicle along Route 91. Stair said the man threatened to cut his throat and lunged at him with a knife to intimidate him into turning over the vehicle.

Hugo Umana and his older brother, Jose, were walking down an East Baltimore street shortly before 6 a.m. yesterday, heading to work as day laborers, when a car pulled up next to them. Some men jumped out and forced Hugo Umana, 22, into their car - a Ford Focus with Texas license plates - at knifepoint, but not before he tossed his cell phone to his brother, Baltimore police said. The brother called police, who brought him to the homicide division for interviews. About 7:30 a.m., the cell phone rang.

Richard D. Graff still sits in his usual corner at Clara's Restaurant, watching his customers and wait staff. He still leaves every night at 8 p.m. - closing time - and drives the quarter mile down German Hill Road to his home. Every night, he opens the door and walks in. But since Sept. 24, 2002, when two men were waiting for him inside that dark entryway, life has changed for the 68-year-old Dundalk man. "I'm like a prisoner," he said in his gravelly voice yesterday, sitting outside a Baltimore County courtroom.