Medical Class Students Robbed; Gunman Escape

OXON HILL, Md. - Thursday night on the 5th floor of a building at 6188 Oxon Hill Road, 2 armed suspects rushed into a medical office training class.

"They came up to the reception area they put guns to the receptionist head and a student head and told them to give up the money," says one woman who was inside.

She was one of the 15 medical training students.

"They ran down the stairway area, then the two ladies in the front ran to the back and said 'Oh God' we been robbed. Then we barricaded ourselves in the room."

Just before 9pm, police and SWAT surrounded the building.

Over the next few hours searched teams used battering rams to bust down locked doors in hopes of finding the two armed men.

"They meticulously went through each floor checking closets stairwells elevators," says Prince George's County police officer Henry Tippett.

Meanwhile outside, friends and family members anxiously waited for some kind of news.

In the early morning hours, the scene was cleared and the people who had barricaded themselves inside
were able to leave. The suspects were nowhere to be found.

So why was this building and this office targeted?

This was the night half of the $888.00 tuition was due. So each student was carrying around $440.00.

"To know money was there, it sounds like someone had to alert them that today was collection day for tuition."

The property manager says even though they think this was an isolated incident, they are stepping up security patrols in the building.