WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — A man pleaded guilty Friday to his involvement in a May 2022 kidnapping and robbery outside a Northwest DC nightclub.

In the early hours of May 1, 2022, David Zanders, now 22, and another suspect kidnapped two men outside Flash Nightclub, which is located in the 600 block of Florida Avenue NW.

According to court documents, Zanders stopped his car, pretended to be the victims’ Uber and got into their car.

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Once they realized they were in the wrong car, they asked to be let out and Zanders locked the door.

Shortly after that, it stopped. The two suspects pointed their guns at the victims and told them to hand over their phones and money.

The victims complied.

Zanders and the co-defendant drove the men to a gas station and attempted to withdraw money from an ATM using their credit cards. One of the victims got out of the car and ran, while the other stayed and did not try to run.

Then they drove to a Giant in Hyattsville, Md. and used the victim’s ATM card to withdraw approximately $1,000. They released the victim to Maryland a short time later.

Zanders dropped his co-defendant back at his home in DC

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Later that day, around 11 p.m., Zanders, the same suspect and a third person met in the 900 block of Longfellow St. N.W. The three suspects arranged to meet two victims under the guise of selling Zanders’ car.

Instead, when the two victims arrived, Zanders pulled out a gun, threatened to shoot one of them and demanded the man’s phone, money and keys.

The other two suspects did the same to the second man.

The victims complied, handing over their keys and phone

One of the suspects left in the car the two victims arrived in, while Zanders and another person left in their own cars and fled.

Zanders pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping and one count of car theft. He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 4, 2025.

He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison on the kidnapping charge and 15 years on the car theft charge.

Zanders has been held since his arrest on November 18, 2022.

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