D.C. police obtained a warrant to search a house in the Capitol Hill neighborhood last May. They brought a battering ram with them, and started trying to break through the iron bars in the rear of the house. The only problem? The family of the suspect they were investigating hadn’t lived there for about 18 months. The current owners of the home, Allyson and David Kitchel, told WJLA/ABC7 all about it.

Kitchel explained just days before the raid, a 19-year-old man was arrested on gun charges.

“They asked the young man’s mother where does he live and she said he lives at what is my house. That wasn’t true,” stated Kitchel.

It wasn’t true because Kitchel said she and her husband bought the house from the suspect’s family back in 2007.

Uh, whoops? And the Kitchels say they are still trying to get the city to pay for the damage to their home. The Office of Risk Management apparently denied their claim because the warrant was “authorized and valid and that MPD officers determined there was sufficient probable cause.” Seems like maybe police should have double-checked the claims of this young man’s mother before they started breaking down the door though, doesn’t it?