At yesterday’s Metropolitan Police Department news conference about last year’s crime statistics, Chief Cathy Lanier said that the 19 percent drop in the number of homicides was partially attributable to the reduction in the number of illegal handguns floating around the city.

However, other crimes, particularly robberies, are committed at gunpoint, and though MPD efforts have reduced the number of handguns, a recent spate of robberies in Northeast D.C. have been carried out with heavier weaponry.

Police are investigating a string of five robberies around the Brookland neighborhood of Northeast D.C. in which a pair of suspects held up their victims with a shotgun, WJLA reports:

“There is a bit of shock because it was a shotgun. It was such a big gun. When you see a shotgun, you know it is a shotgun,” said Jerrell Harris.

That gun was pointed at Harris, 34, as he walked home from the Brookland Metro early Sunday morning.

According to police reports, one of the suspects concealed the shotgun with his clothing, and after revealing it, took Harris’ wallet, keys, phone and other personal belongings.

D.C. residents are allowed to register most types of shotguns with the Metropolitan Police Department, although carrying a shotgun or rifle around the city is illegal unless specifically permitted by law.