Lawmakers have criticized rising violent crime in the nation's capital after a Trump official was killed in a carjacking last week.
“Mike Gill's death in a carjacking on 14th Street in downtown Washington while picking up his wife from work is another example of why Congress must take back control of our nation's capital,” the wrote former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich on X Sunday.
Last year was the city's deadliest in more than two decades. The numbers rose while violent crime fell in almost every other city in America.
Nearby Baltimore, famous for the crimes depicted in “The Wire,” saw its biggest drop in murders on record last year.
But 40 miles away in D.C., shootings, murders and carjackings were skyrocketing, reaching even neighborhoods that would normally be spared from such violence.
Lawmakers, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, have criticized rising violent crime rates in the nation's capital after a Trump official was killed in a carjacking last week
Gingrich has called on Congress to step in and try to solve the problem
Former Trump administration official Mike Gill died after being shot during a carjacking in Washington, DC.
Crime is becoming more and more common in the city center, where long-time residents often feel unsafe for the first time.
Former President Donald Trump has promised to send federal troops to deal with the situation.
“I will send in the National Guard until law and order is restored.” “I wouldn't even call the mayor,” he told an audience last year.
“Washington has become a dirty, crime-ridden deathtrap that must be taken over and properly managed by the federal government,” Trump said in his Truth Social.
Last week, the issue of crime came up again in Washington, DC, when Trump promised to “take over our terribly run capital” and renovate it so that “it is no longer a nightmare of murder and crime.”
The issue came up again last week when Trump vowed to “take over our terribly run capital” and renovate it so that “it is no longer a nightmare of murder and crime.”
“We're going to federalize it.” We're going to have the toughest law enforcement in the country. “We're going to have no crime and it's going to look nice,” Trump said.
A former George W. Bush-appointed U.S. attorney, Brett Tolman, who is executive director of the conservative criminal justice reform group Right on Crime, has blamed Washington's chief prosecutor for failing to prosecute most cases.
“We don’t need to change the law.” We don’t need a president deploying the National Guard to take over the city. “All you need is one person in the workplace, Republican or Democrat, telling people they're going to enforce the law,” he told NBC News.
Artell Cunningham, 28, was shot and killed by police around 4:30 a.m. last Tuesday after carjacking numerous vehicles and killing two people
This weekend it was revealed that the car thief who shot and killed former Trump administration official Mike Gill during a late-night crime spree was arrested in a car crash a year earlier.
Artell Cunningham, 28, was shot and killed by police around 4:30 a.m. last Tuesday after carjacking numerous vehicles and killing two people.
His first victim was Gill, a married father of three who was shot on K Street NW in Washington, D.C. around 5:45 p.m. last Monday and died in the hospital on Saturday.
Gill was chief operating officer of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission during Donald Trump's time in the White House.
Just 90 minutes late, Cunningham shot and killed father of two Alberto Vasquez Jr., 35, in a separate carjacking nearby and then stole more cars at gunpoint, authorities said.
He was killed by two New Carrollton police officers who cornered him on the northeastern edge of the Maryland, D.C. suburbs.
Former Trump administration official Mike Gill died after being shot during a carjacking in Washington, DC. He was seen here just two weeks earlier with his wife and three children
Alberto Vasquez Jr., 35, (pictured with his family) was killed by the same gunman 90 minutes after Gill was shot in a separate carjacking in D.C
Cunningham was remembered by his sister Atia La'Shae, who responded “Yes, very much” to a friend who wrote in her post, “We will miss him.”
D.C. Police Deputy Chief Jeffery Carroll said Cunningham had a criminal history and appeared to be in a mental health crisis at the time.
Arrest records show Cunningham was arrested on April 8, 2021, for disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, obstructing officers and failing to comply with police orders.
Then on September 24, 2022, he was arrested for driving an uninsured vehicle and fleeing the scene of an accident in which he was involved.
Washington, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb told residents concerned about skyrocketing crime rates that his department “cannot prosecute and arrest our way out of the problem.”
He spoke during the panel discussion, “Understanding Juvenile Carjacking: A Panel Discussion,” which focused on the rise in violent crime in the nation’s capital.
Schwalb said if residents want to be “safer in the long run,” they need to focus on preventing crime, not just arrests after the fact.
“We as a city and community need to focus much more on prevention and providing resources to young people and their families if we want to be safer in the long term,” he said.
“We cannot get out of this through prosecution and arrest.”
Cunningham was remembered by his sister Atia La'Shae with this photo. She replied “Yes, very much” to a friend who wrote in her post: “We will miss him.”
Arrest records show Cunningham was arrested on April 8, 2021, for disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, obstructing officers and failing to comply with police orders
Surveillance images show 28-year-old Cunningham shot hours later by two New Carrollton police officers, on the northeastern edge of the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC
The panel was chaired by Councilman Charles Allen, who faces a recall from his District 6 seat due to rising crime in the area and the city as a whole.
Schwalb's office responded to criticism from Republican lawmakers, emphasizing that he is “very focused” on making D.C. safer but believes in a holistic solution.
“This includes prosecuting young people and prosecuting them when they commit crimes, which we do for any serious crime where there is sufficient evidence to support a case,” it said.
“However, law enforcement by definition occurs after a crime has been committed, and to truly make the county safer, we must focus on stopping crimes before they even happen.”
“Prevention efforts cannot replace effective policing and law enforcement, but are equally necessary to make D.C. safer now and in the long term.”
Another law enforcement official, D.C. U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves, is facing calls for impeachment from Republicans because of rising crime.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced articles of impeachment in the House of Representatives on May 16 last year, but nothing has happened since then.
Greene accused him of refusing to prosecute 67 percent of the suspects arrested by Washington police but cracked down on the Jan. 6 insurrectionists.
“The time to weaponize the Justice Department must be over.” And because you refuse to prosecute real criminals who commit all the crimes here in Washington DC and you want to talk about the residents of DC, they are victims of their abuse of power,” she said.
“And that is why I am impeaching you, Mr. Graves.”
Washington, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb recently told residents concerned about skyrocketing crime rates that his department “cannot prosecute and arrest our way out of the problem.”
During a panel discussion, D.C. residents voiced their frustration and demanded accountability from city leaders in combating the violent crime epidemic plaguing our nation's capital.
Response from DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb: “We cannot prosecute and arrest our way out of this.” pic.twitter.com/hEUT8GG7Al
– Carrie Severino (@JCNSeverino) January 31, 2024
Graves explained that many lower-level cases, such as gun possession, drug possession and misdemeanors, were not prosecuted due to a lack of resources.
The biggest problem was that the DC Department of Forensic Sciences lost its accreditation in 2021, resulting in DNA and other evidence having to be sent elsewhere for processing – an expensive and time-consuming effort.
Prosecutors also dropped more cases because body camera footage indicated a lack of evidence of the crime or did not match police reports.
Graves said the vast majority of arrests for violent crimes were prosecuted – including 87.9 percent of murders, armed carjackings, assaults with intent to kill and first-degree sexual assault cases in 2022.