A 42-year-old Oakland Mills man says icy ground nearly foiled gunman's attempt to rob him at an automated teller machine early Wednesday.
Herbert Haywood, an employee at the Potomac River Commission in Rockville, said he was on his way to work when he stopped his car a block from his home at the Oakland Mills Village Center to make a cash withdrawal at 5:50 a.m. Wednesday.
As he walked to the machine, he heard a noise in the parking lot behind him. A man in a ski mask and armed with a sawed-off shotgun ran toward him, slipped on the ice, regained his balance and continued charging.
"First I thought, 'He's got to be kidding,' " Mr. Haywood said. "Then I thought, 'Don't count on it.' I started running and screamed, 'No! No.!'
"He was yelling, 'I'm going to shoot you. Do you want to die?' " Mr. Haywood said. "I stopped."
While another man kept watch, the gunman put his weapon to Mr. Haywood's head and told him to withdraw money. Mr. Haywood complied, and the robber took Mr. Haywood's bank card and credit cards and fled with the other man.
Mr. Haywood scrambled to his car and drove to work.
He notified police at 8 a.m. "I figured it was over. I was a statistic. I have to go on with my job."
The gunman was described as a black male, 20 to 30 years old, 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighing 175 pounds and wearing a navy blue ski mask and green sweat pants.