After an armed carjacking and barricade inside a Potomac home shook the community, Montgomery County Police have arrested and charged Perry Marcel Bryant, the man responsible for these crimes.
On the afternoon of Sept. 27, Bryant began his crime spree after an attempted kidnapping turned carjacking. According to Montgomery County Police, the suspect approached the driver of a BMW, threatened her with a handgun and entered the backseat of her vehicle. Once inside the car Bryant commanded the woman to drive, an order she refused to follow. She then exited the vehicle and sought help from another driver on the road.
The attempted kidnapping victim and the driver who helped her then called to alert the police of the carjacking and the suspect who had fled the scene in the BMW. Montgomery County Police quickly responded, resulting in an intense car chase from Bethesda to Potomac as they attempted to catch the suspect. The chase came to an end after Bryant drove the BMW off the road and into the woods near the intersection of Tuckerman Lane and Falls Chapel Way.
Bryant then proceeded to exit the vehicle and travel by foot to a nearby housing community, roughly two and a half miles away from Wootton. The suspect continued until reaching a row of townhouses on Frost Valley Way where he scaled the deck of one of the buildings and entered from an open window. The homeowner was able to escape before Bryant entered. It was not long until Bryant was surrounded by police. Despite multiple attempts to escape, Bryant was unsuccessful. “He tried to escape through the roof … and then he tried to go through the basement wall into my house,” neighbor and witness to the crime Jamison McGrain said to Fox 5 News.
During Bryant’s barricade, the police took several precautions to ensure the community remained safe. Cold Spring Elementary and Wayside Elementary, which were both around one mile away from the standoff, were both under a “shelter in place.”
While bus riding students were permitted to leave the school, walkers were forced to remain in the building until their parents picked them up. In addition, residents of the community were advised to remain inside the safety of their homes. Montgomery County Police also closed Falls Road between Liberty Lane and Glen Road to restrict Bryant’s ability to leave the community.
The suspect remained barricaded at this residence for nearly five hours before Montgomery County Police were able to take him into custody. “After a very methodical and lengthy search of this home, emergency response team officers were able to locate him,” Montgomery County Police Captain Paul Starks said to fox5dc.com.
“He had secreted himself in the home. And believing that he was armed, these officers took their time to do so in a safe manner and ultimately it was safe because no one was injured. He was taken into custody,” Starks said.
Bryant has since been charged with armed carjacking, attempted kidnapping, and home invasion.
Students felt threatened by the incident, given this type of situation is uncommon for the area and it occurred so close to the school.
“I thought it was terrifying,” senior Sahana Chakravartti said. “Such violence is very rare.”
Sarah Greenberg

Senior News Editor