Today's story on the trial of a man charged with raping and strangling a woman brought back a familiar name: Kevin Gerald Robinson.
I wrote about him back in 1995 when he held four people hostage in a law office on the 12th floor of One Calvert Plaza near the Inner Harbor. He had claimed the law firm owed him money, and he tied up a security guard, a receptionist and two lawyers.
One of the lawyers managed to grab his gun and shoot him four times before escaping. He was serving time in prison in Hagerstown for that attack when police matched his DNA to a 20-year-old attack on Lisa Barselou, a 26-year-old whose body was found beaten and submerged in the bathtub of her home in November 1989.
Nicholas Panteleakis, Robinson's lawyer, told the jury that Robinson and Barselou had consensual sex, and that his client's DNA, found on her body, could have been there up to five days before she was killed.
Here is an account of he harrowing hostage ordeal from 1995, as told to me by Barry Norwitz, one of the lawyers:
Mr. Norwitz said the gunman, who police said also tied up another lawyer, a security guard and a receptionist, "was constantly telling me that if I didn't cooperate, he would blow my head off. Every time he talked to me, he had the gun pressed to the side or the back of my head."
In an interview yesterday, Mr. Norwitz recounted frustrating hours of being held hostage as workers in offices next door had no idea what was happening. He told of office telephones ringing and of shackled workers helpless to answer them. Police didn't know anything was wrong until four hours after the siege began.
Police said the gunman insisted that the law firm owed him thousands of dollars, and forced Mr. Norwitz to write him two checks totaling $34,000. But why the gunman wanted the money remains a mystery.
The ordeal ended when one of the hostages, lawyer Purshelle Annette Taylor, grabbed the gunman's .45-caliber handgun and shot him four times.
Mr. Norwitz, tied up in a separate office, said he doesn't remember hearing the gunshots.
"I wasn't quite sure what was going on," he said. "I heard a woman screaming and doors banging. I was thinking that the police had arrived and they had gotten this guy."
Later, he learned that Ms. Taylor, 27, had turned the tables on the gunman.
"I can't say whether the guy was going to shoot anybody," Mr. Norwitz said. "Certainly I'm glad she shot him before he had the chance to shoot anybody else. Is she a heroine? I certainly think so."
A relieved Lolita Holloway, 45, the mother of security guard Roland Powell, who lives in North Baltimore, said: "Congratulations to her. She saved all their lives."
The suspect, Kevin Gerald Robinson, 30, of the 300 block of McMechen St., was upgraded to fair condition yesterday at the University of Maryland Medical Center, where he is being treated for gunshot wounds to the neck, thigh, arm and abdomen.
Once released, he faces a long list of criminal charges, including armed robbery, false imprisonment, reckless endangerment, assault and being a convicted felon in possession of a handgun.
Police said the drama began when the gunman walked into the law office about 10 a.m. and handcuffed the receptionist, Brenda Burrell, 33, and left her in a back office. Half an hour later, Mr. Norwitz walked in, was tied up and forced into another office.
About 1:30 p.m., police said Ms. Taylor and Mr. Powell entered and were tied up as well. The gunman, apparently thinking Ms. Taylor was secure in a back office, left his gun on a desk.
But Ms. Taylor was able to break her bonds, grab the gun and shoot the gunman four times, police said. The wounded man still was able to wrestle the gun away from her and run out of the suite. Police arrested him as he tried to hide on the fourth floor.
Mr. Norwitz said he still is unclear of all the details. He said he walked into the office and was immediately confronted by an armed man dressed in a black leather jacket, nylon jogging pants and white tennis shoes.
The gunman handcuffed his hands behind his back, tied his feet with computer wire and telephone cords and made him lie face down on the floor, he said.
Mr. Norwitz, 50, said he had never seen the gunman before, but the man repeatedly said that Jerome Wasserman owed him money. Mr. Wasserman, who ran the law office with Mr. Norwitz, died in February.
Mr. Norwitz said that at one point the gunman loosened his cuffs and ordered him to write a personal check to Eric Anderson for $17,000. Later the gunman ordered him to call Signet Bank and ask to speak with the head teller. "He had me say that there would be a gentlemen coming over and he didn't have any identification, but it was OK for him to cash it," Mr. Norwitz said.
Just why the gunman thought he was owed money is unclear. Police said yesterday they haven't had time to interview the man in depth because of his injuries. Mr. Norwitz said he planned to search his files on Monday to see if the name comes up.