Gunman bursts into party, tastes cheese and wine, gets a hug, then leaves.

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Washington--A grand feast of marinated steaks and jumbo shrimp was winding down, and a group of friends was sitting on the back patio of a Capitol Hill home, sipping red wine. Suddenly, a hooded man slid in through an open gate and put the barrel of a hand-gun to the head of a 14yr.old guest.

"Give me your money, or I'll start shooting," he demanded, according to D.C. police and witness accounts.
The five other guests, including the girls' parents, froze--and then one spoke.

"We were just finishing dinner," Cristina "Cha Cha" Rowan, 43, blurted out. "Why don't you have a glass of wine with us?"
The intruder took a sip of their Chateau Malescot St-Exupery and said, "Damn, that's good wine."

The girls father, Michael Rabdau, 51, who described the harrowing evening in an interview, told the intruder, described as being in his 20's, to take the whole glass. Rowan offered him the whole bottle. The would-be robber, with his hood down now, took another sip and had a bite of Camembert cheese that was on the table.

'Can I get a hug?'
Then he tucked the gun into the pocket of his nylon sweatpants.
"I think I may have come to the wrong house," he said, looking around the patio of the home in the 1300 block of Constitution Avenue NE.
"I'm sorry," he told the group, "Can I get a hug?"
Rowan, who lives in Falls Church and works part-time at her children's school, stood up and wrapped her arms around him. Then it was Rabdau's turn. Then his wife's. The other two guests complied.

"That's really good wine," the man said, taking another sip. He had another final request: "Can we have a group hug?"
The five adults surrounded him, arms out.
With that, the man walked out with a crystal wine glass in hand, filled with Chataeu Malescot. No one was hurt, and nothing was stolen.

The homeowner, Xavier Cervera, 45, had gone out to walk his dog at the end of the party and missed the incident, which happened about midnight June 16. Police classified the incident as strange but true and said they had not located a suspect.
"We believe it is a true robbery," said Cmdr. Dianne Groomes, who is in charge of patrols in the Capital Hill area. But's it's one-of-a-kind, she said, adding, "I've never heard of a robber joining a party, and then walking out to the sunset."

The hug, she said, was especially unusual. "They should have squeezed him and held on to him for us," she said.
Rabdau said he hasn't been able to figure out what happened.
"I was definitely expecting there would be some kind of caualty,"
Rabdau, said this week. "He was very aggressive at first: then it turned into a love fest. I don't know what it was."

Was it the wine or the cheese?
Rabdau, a federal govt. worker who lives in Anne Arundel County with his family and lived on Capitol Hill with his wife in the 1980's, said the episode lasted about 10 minutes but seemed like an hour. He believes the guest were spared because they kept a positive attitude during the exchange.


"There was this degree of disbelief and terror at the same time,"
Rabdau said. "Then it just miraculously changed. His whole emotional tone turned--like, we're one big happy family now. I thought: Was it the wine? Was it the cheese?"

After the intruder left, the guests walked into the house, locked the door and stared at each other. They didn't say a word.
Rabdau dialed 911. Police arrived quickly and took a report. They also dusted for fingerprints--so far, to no avail.

In the alley behind the home, investigator's found the intruder's empty wine glass on the ground, unbroken.

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