I was the first reporter on the scene of the Hanafi Muslim shootings 30 years ago. Someone called WMAL from inside the B' nai B' rith building where hostages were being held. They told us a little of what was going on and asked us for more information (we had none). The WMAL news director saw me sitting in the room preparing for my afternoon show and told to me take a station car and go down there. When I got there, everything was calm. There were not even any police on the scene. I was about to turn around and head back to the station thinking it was a false alarm, when all hell broke loose. Suddenly the area was flooded with cops and I was told to drive the car to the traffic circle and stay there. After a while, police sealed off the entire area, and you were either in or out of the controlled area. I was told I was free (even encouraged) to leave, but if I did, neither I nor anybody else from the station would be allowed back in. I stayed from what I remember to be around noon until about ten that night, calling in reports on the two-way radio. It was not until I heard the report about Maurice Williams being shot, that I realized the gunmen in the building could have opened fire on any of us in the controlled area at any time. I am glad the city is doing something to mark the date.

How intriguing to read Chris Core's memories of 30 years ago and the Hanafi Muslim siege. I was midday anchor at WTOP then, and wound up anchoring 21 straight hours--10AM the day it started straight through the afternoon, evening, and overnight to the next morning at 7AM. Then, after barely staying awake to get home and have a brief coma, I came back in to anchor the following evening, til it all ended that second night. After the first few hours, WTOP expanded its coverage to include twice-hourly 5 minute updates to all the CBS owned and operated radio stations nationwide. At one point, on-air, I referred to the hostage takers at the 3 locations as "black muslims". This infuriated the ringleader, Hamas Abdul Khalis, who called the station demanding an apology from me or else he'd "start cutting off heads, putting them in paper bags, and throwing them out windows" at B'nai Brith. At the time, WTOP Radio was co-owned and co-located with channel 9, so it was decided by tv news director Jim Snyder that I'd take 5 minutes away from radio coverage to go downstairs to WTOP-TV. I did, dressed in some really bright colored, tv-inappropriate shirt, and uttered my phony mea culpas. All the while, my then-wife, Camille Bohannon (now with AP Radio), was covering the part of the siege over by the Islamic center. And...she and I had just given notice at WTOP, and were going to WRC All-news 98. Had the siege gone another 24 hours, We'd have had to jump ship at the stroke of midnight and raced over to Nebraska Avenue to continue coverage for WRC! Where I met my colleague-to-be Rudy Brewington, and learned that he had gone to lunch with Maurice Williams that day, and had planned to take the elevator with Maurice back to the press room. But at the final second Rudy decided to see somebody on the ground floor of the District Building, thereby saving his life. What a time that was!