The increasing crime in the country’s capital is unsettling residents. Locals only drive short distances to avoid walking, and others are now too afraid to go outside, even during the day.
Homicides and robberies are up 29 percent and 67 percent, respectively, compared to the same period last year, with murders reaching levels not seen in two decades – while other major cities such as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Baltimore are seeing declines.
Neighboring Baltimore could end the year with fewer than 300 murders for the first time since unrest over Freddie Gray’s death in police custody in 2015.
But in Washington, D.C., a 58-year-old lobbyist told the Washington Post that he stopped walking in his neighborhood after he and his husband were attacked near Dupont Circle and then they were attacked with a bottle outside Whole Foods were thrown at. He and his husband left town last month after 30 years and moved to Maryland.
“I always used to believe I could outrun any criminal,” he said. “I can’t do it anymore. I’m a sitting duck.”
A body is covered with a tarp after a shooting in Washington DC in April. Murders are on track to reach levels not seen in 20 years
Nora Fanfalone, 28, avoids using the main entrance to her apartment building after several unpleasant and threatening encounters
Nora Fanfalone, 28, a business consultant, said she now uses the service entrance to her downtown apartment building to avoid being pushed again by an aggressive man or witnessing a shooting on her doorstep, as happened recently.
“I’m like, ‘How did I misunderstand this?’ “I live across the street from the Smithsonian and there is a Hermès store two blocks away,” she told the newspaper.
“It is very surprising that public safety would be an issue in a neighborhood with so much traffic and so many attractions.”
Ronald Moten, 53, who lives in the Hillcrest neighborhood in Ward 7, said he now avoids going to the gas station at night for fear of being robbed.
He was arrested for selling crack in the 1990s, but now works with young people to keep them off the streets.
He told the newspaper that the crime was targeted and localized at the time, but that the violence has now spread across the city.
“Before, you didn’t have to worry about crime unless you were connected to the streets or the drug trade.” “Now you could just walk down the street, go to the car and get killed,” he said.
Moten said that this summer he was arriving at a nightclub on Connecticut Avenue – one of the diagonal avenues leading from the White House – when three men in hoodies tried to rob someone.
“A gun went off and I had to jump to the ground,” he said.
“People don’t care.” They rob them in Georgetown and Connecticut Avenue. They go to the quay. Well, it could be anywhere.’
Ronald Moten, 53, said violence in D.C. was localized in the 1990s but is now citywide
Stephanie Heishman, 44, said she felt “ridiculous” as she drove five blocks after her usual Sunday evening meal at a friend’s house, but didn’t want to get caught up in the violence in her Adams Morgan neighborhood
Stephanie Heishman, 44, an event planner from northwest Washington, said she now drives just five blocks for her usual Sunday dinner with a friend after a shooting last year outside her Adams Morgan apartment and on her block three men were murdered last month.
“It’s so ridiculous,” she said of driving. “On the other hand, I don’t want to get shot by accident.”
The causes of D.C.’s crime wave are difficult to pinpoint.
Some point out that while D.C. has its own police department, federal agencies are responsible for the rest of the criminal justice system, including prosecutors, courts, prisons and offender supervision.
Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser has resisted calls to defund the police and is seeking to increase police numbers to 4,000 from the current 3,580.
Their 2024 budget, approved by the D.C. Council in May, includes $5.4 million in bonuses for new hires.
Her 2023 budget earmarked $1.7 billion of the $19.5 billion for public safety and justice – an increase from $1.5 billion last year.
“We must use all resources to reduce crime,” she wrote.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has resisted calls to defund the police and is seeking to increase the police force to 4,000 from the current 3,580
Bowser was criticized by some for spending $4.8 million on BLM Plaza
After the murder of George Floyd, some cities gave in to calls to defund police. However, Bowser took the opposite approach and opted to increase police dollars in her fiscal year 2021 budget – which took effect in October 2020.
However, the D.C. Council modified the mayor’s proposal by cutting the Metropolitan Police Department’s budget by $32 million (or 5.4 percent) and redirecting $9.6 million from police to violence interruption.
However, Bowser was criticized by some for spending $4.8 million to build BLM Plaza in the heart of downtown D.C., where the slogan was just a stone’s throw from the White House, then occupied by Donald Trump , was painted on the street.
Homicides have increased in four of the last five years: The number of murders in 2021 was 227, the highest since 2003, although it fell to 203 last year.
There have been 190 murders so far this year, putting DC on track to overtake 2021 as the bloodiest year in two decades.
The youngest victim was 17-year-old Antonio Cunningham, who was shot Monday on his way to his part-time job at a sandwich shop in Northeast Washington.
Antonio Cunningham, 17, was murdered Monday as he went to work at a sandwich shop in Northeast D.C
D.C. police said Cunningham was attacked by three masked assailants, and Cunningham’s family said they robbed him.
Kenya Darby, 33, who is engaged to Cunningham’s father and lives with the family, said Cunningham was a loving older brother to five younger siblings and was dedicated to school work and his local boxing gym.
She said he had talked about starting his own business and was hard-working and ambitious.
Darby said she and her fiancé kept strict tabs on his whereabouts and warned him to be careful and keep his head down.
“We always try to make sure he’s doing the right thing and that he’s where he’s supposed to be,” she told The Washington Post.
Some teenagers stayed home because they or their parents feared violence, said Derek Floyd, who mentors teenagers at the Barry Farm Recreation Center in District 8.
He told the newspaper he couldn’t find 14-year-olds this year to play football in the fall.
“That makes it more dangerous,” Floyd said. “Unfortunately, this is our reality.”