Body of Lululemon Employee Discovered on Betheda Row, Georgetown Store Closed

Update, 11:19 a.m. Sunday: The Lululemon Athletica stores in Georgetown and Clarendon were closed again this morning.

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At 8:12 a.m., police were called to Lululemon Athletica at 4856 Bethesda Ave. where they found one deceased female employee in her 20s or 30s at the rear of the store, according to Capt. Paul Starks, a Montgomery County police spokesman. Calls to Lululemon communications were not immediately returned. The Georgetown Lululemon store was closed as of 3:30 p.m. Saturday, though it is not clear whether or not it was related to the Bethesda incident.

Police have not released the identities of the victims of the attack, both female employees. Starks said police believed the attack began as a robbery and then escalated into at least one sexual assault and a homicide. Police were unsure whether the victim who was killed was also sexually assaulted.

Saturday afternoon, Officer Hugh Carew, a spokesperson for D.C. MPD, said the agency had not been instructed to provide any extra security or patrols near the Georgetown Lululemon location.

Both victims were in their late 20s or early 30s.

Starks said police responded this morning around 8:12 a.m. A female employee who arrived to open the store noticed the store in disarray and heard noises coming from the back of the store. The female employee left the store and summoned help from a male passerby, Starks said. The man discovered either the deceased or the injured victim, or both, towards the back of the store. Starks said it’s believed the noises the employee who was opening the store heard was the injured victim.

Starks said there were two suspects, believed to be men. Police didn’t immediately have a description of the suspects, but Starks said the two were concealing their identities with masks and gloves. It wasn’t yet known whether the store has surveillance cameras.

Police said there was no sign of forced entry and they didn’t believe the front door of the building had been locked at the time of the attack. Police said the store closed at 9 p.m., and they believed the attack may have happened sometime Friday evening after the store was closed but while the two female employees were still inside.

Starks said the employee who was sexually assaulted was in the hospital with serious but non-life threatening injures, and that police were beginning to talk to her to piece together what happened. “We’re relying a lot on this one person who has been through hell,” Starks said.

Starks asked anyone who might have seen or heard something to come forward. “Normally this is an area of the county where this type of crime doesn’t occur,” Starks said. “Part of the reason is there’s so much traffic — both on vehicle and on foot.”

Starks urged anyone with information to call 240-773-5070. Callers may remain anonymous.

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