Man is charged in five attacks after violent robbery in Wheaton,The Ethiopian Immigrant Fasil Gebremedhin is one of the Victims

The 77-year-old lawyer from Silver Spring had just bought a shirt and robe at Macy’s in Wheaton on Sunday afternoon and was headed to his car when a stranger with a yellow-handled box cutter approached.

“You know what this is?” the man asked. “You better listen to me. Get in.”

A suspect was charged Wednesday in a string of daytime attacks in the Maryland suburbs. The robber drove the lawyer to at least three ATMs, police said. The robber took out about $1,800. The victim was hit in the face — his nose was broken — and he was cut on the leg. Over and over, the attacker threatened to kill him.

The victim screamed at first, then crouched in the passenger seat, his eyes closed.

“I was just down there bloody. I thought this would be the end of me,” he said Wednesday as he recuperated in his bedroom, a bandage around his left calf and bruises under each eye. “He was a pro. I just felt like he knew what he was doing, like he does it every day.”

Police said that for the past two weeks, the robber did do it almost every day.

Henry L. Sanders, 50 — who has a history of convictions in Maryland and other states — was charged with kidnapping, carjacking, robbery and other counts in connection with five crimes over a 10-day stretch, according to police and court records. In four, police said, Sanders abducted men from parking lots and tried to force them to withdraw cash from ATMs. In the fifth, according to court papers, he stole cash and a credit card and tried to steal a car.

In most of the cases, the victims had been walking from stores to their parked cars when the assailant approached. In some cases, the attacker started with a ruse: He once asked for a ride to visit his sick mother at the hospital. Then he threatened, often with a yellow-handled box cutter. The lawyer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect his privacy and safety, said that before the robber left him, he wiped the steering wheel clean — apparently to get rid of any fingerprints.

Another victim was leaving a Home Depot in Hyattsville on Nov. 20 when an attacker approached. Fasil Gebremedhin believed the man when he said he was tired and needed a ride. He had a good story: His brother was supposed to pick him up but got caught up in watching a football game and wasn’t coming.

Gebremedhin invited the man, who police said was Sanders, into his car and drove toward the Fort Totten Metro station.

Then the stranger pulled a knife, telling Gebremedhin to give up his wallet and keep his hands on the steering wheel.

“I told him, ‘I have two little boys. Whatever you need, I want to give it to you,’ ” Gebremedhin said. “He kept saying, ‘You want to die? You want to die?’ ”

Gebremedhin, a 37-year-old Ethiopian immigrant who lives in the District and owns a home-improvement business, said they rode for nearly 45 minutes looking for an ATM. As Gebremedhin begged for his life, the robber swore at him. At one point, Gebremedhin said, the man drew what looked like a handgun and said that “he wanted to blow my head off.” The attacker threatened to go to the address on the stolen driver’s license, should his plan be foiled.
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