Laurel Police are investigating a crash and carjacking on BW Parkway that started as a robbery at the Tastee Diner on Washington Boulevard Tuesday morning.
“He held it up against my head for a while and said, ‘I think I oughta kill yah,’” said Tastee Diner employee Joe Fredholm.
At around midnight, 74-year-old Fredholm was ordered at gunpoint to empty the cash drawer at the Laurel diner.
“Guy came in the door, dressed like a ninja with a gun, told us all to lay on the floor and then the other two came in behind him," Fredholm said.
He said the three men were dressed in black, one suspect forced him to the ground and another went in the back for the cook.
“They had the cook in the kitchen, which was Charles. They had a gun to his head and they were going back and forth with him in the kitchen and then finally they came out front and Charles was like, ‘Why are you doing that to him? He can't hurt you. You have to let him up, so you can get your money,’” said Joy Farmer, the assistant manager of Tastee Diner in Laurel.
“So, I said it's going to take me a while to get up because I have arthritis so then he hit me for that. This is where the blood ran down and then I got two [bumps on my head], one right next to the other,” Fredholm said.
Police said three masked suspects stole an undisclosed sum of money then fled the scene in a BMW on the BW Parkway and crashed into multiple vehicles near Route 197.
Officials with the United States Park Police said witnesses reported seeing a man get out of the car with a gun, fired at least one shot and then carjacked another vehicle on the scene at gunpoint.
Seven people were taken to area hospitals with non-life threatening injuries, according to police.
Police said the carjacked vehicle was later recovered in northeast Washington, D.C. The suspects remain at large.
BW Parkway at Route 197 was closed for about six hours, but has since reopened.
Anyone with information is asked to contact detectives at 202-610-7500.
WMAR Staff contributed to this report.
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