Armed Robbers Posing as Police on Drug Bust Hold Up Apartment

Two armed robbers posing as police on a drug bust ransacked a North Druid Hills apartment late Tuesday night, DeKalb County police said.

A 19-year-old tenant of the Morgan Place apartment complex, 1690 Chantilly Dr., told police he was studying for his pre-calculus final and his 18-year-old roommate was asleep when he heard a knock at his front door at about 11:45pm, the police report said. He said he could hear music from a nearby apartment and figured the knock was from a downstairs neighbor who had asked them to turn their music down earlier that evening.

But when the 19-year-old opened the door, two men – the first holding a gun – stood at the front door and demanded he get on the ground. Both wore black shirts with the word "police" emblazoned on them. The victim said the second suspect zip-tied him as he was on the ground while one of the suspects asked him if there was anyone else in the apartment. The victim told the two robbers his 18-year-old roommate was in another bedroom.

The roommate was removed from his room at gunpoint and also zip-tied. The two robbers told both victims they were there looking for money and drugs, and they separated the victims and tried to play them off each other, saying to each victim the other victim said where the drugs and money were hidden. The two robbers also threatened to take the victims to jail and bring drug-sniffing dogs into the apartment if they didn't confess.

While the two robbers went through the apartment, ransacking it, the report said, they received nine to 10 calls on their cell phones and made several, claiming they were speaking with their "captain."

The robbery lasted about half an hour, and the two robbers left the apartment with more than $400 in cash, a shotgun valued at about $400, about $40 in prescription pills and a $700 projector. The victims were not injured.

The first robber was described as a black male about 6 feet 2 inches tall, about 180 pounds, wearing the black shirt with "police" on it in white letters and black pants and black boots. His gun had a silver barrel and a black hand grip, and he had a holster on his hip and a gold badge on his belt buckle that said "special forces," the police report said.

The second robber was described as a black male about 5 feet 8 inches tall and about 250 pounds with a shaved head. He also wore a "police" shirt with black pants and black boots.