News/Commentary

DC locals terrified to go out during the day, homicide rate jumps by 29% in a year

September 13, 2023 | | Print Article

Washington, D.C. has gotten so dangerous that residents now reportedly drive short distances to the store and are afraid to risk their lives by going outside during the day due to soaring crime.

(Video Credit: ABC 7 News – WJLA)

The nation’s capital has become a killing field and a playground for vicious criminals. Murder has jumped a stunning 29 percent since last year. Robberies are up 67 percent. The homicide rate is at its highest in two decades, according to the Daily Mail.

A 58-year-old lobbyist told The Washington Post in an interview that he was afraid to take walks in his neighborhood after he and his husband were attacked near Dupont Circle. The couple also had a bottle thrown at them outside Whole Foods. They fled the city after 30 years last month and relocated to Maryland.

“I’ve always thought I could outrun any criminal in the past,” he stated. “I can’t anymore. I’m a sitting duck.”

A 28-year-old management consultant named Nora Fanfalone says she uses the service entrance to her downtown apartment building to avoid being attacked again or witnessing another gunfight on her doorstep.

(Video Credit: CBN News)

“I’m like, ‘How did I get this wrong? I live across from the Smithsonian and there’s an Hermès store two blocks away,” she told the Washington Post. “It’s very surprising that public safety is an issue in a neighborhood with such high traffic and major attractions.”

Another resident named Ronald Moten, 53, who resides in Ward 7’s Hillcrest neighborhood, told the media outlet that he will no longer go to a gas station at night because he fears being robbed. He claims that violent crime is now a city-wide issue.

“You used to not have to worry about crime unless you were associated with the streets, with drug dealing. Now you could just be going down the street, going to the car and you can be killed,” he remarked.

He recounted going to a nightclub on Connecticut Avenue and seeing three men in hoodies attempting to rob someone.

“A gun went off, and I had to dive to the ground,” Moten recalled. “People don’t care. They rob them in Georgetown and Connecticut Avenue. They’re going to the Wharf. Now, it could be anywhere.”

A Northwest Washington event planner named Stephanie Heishman claims she drives five blocks for her Sunday evening dinner with a friend following a gunfight outside her Adams Morgan apartment last year. Three men were murdered on her block in August.

“It’s so ridiculous,” she commented concerning having to drive. “On the other hand, I don’t want to randomly get shot.”

“Allie Black, a retiree, was jolted awake in her Seventh Street NW apartment over Labor Day weekend when she heard what she described as ‘Boom! Boom! Boom!’ — dozens of rounds of gunfire that she later learned struck three women, two of whom were teenagers who died. As she left a church the next day, she walked past the site of the shooting, where investigators had chalked dozens of circles on the sidewalk where bullet casings landed. Black said she had remained in bed after the gunfire stopped, her lights off, and prayed,” the Washington Post reported.

“I feel like I need a trauma counselor,” she stated. “This is not normal.”

Although the media is claiming the cause of the crime surge is complex, it’s pretty simple. D.C. lets criminals right back onto the street with little or no bail. They don’t seem to be prosecuting many crimes either. Add to that the fact that police officers are now leery of doing their jobs because they could be prosecuted for it and all this leads to escalation. Leftist policies have exploded crime in the nation’s capital and progressives just can’t seem to figure out why.

Despite D.C. running its own police department, the federal government is in charge of the criminal justice system there, including prosecutors, courts, prisons, and offender supervision. Many, many are leftists who seem to care far more about criminals than their victims.

The DC Council has cut the police department’s budget by $32 million and has redirected $9.6 million in funds to violence interruption. The results have been nothing short of disastrous.

Homicides have risen for four of the last five years in D.C. So far this year, there have been 190 murders.

It’s gotten so bad that House Republicans have warned congressional staff who work on Capitol Hill to take steps to ensure they are safe, according to The Washington Times.

“This year we have seen a dramatic increase in violent crime and theft in Washington D.C. The city is on pace for the most homicides in two decades, a 105% increase in carjackings, and a 113% increase in motor vehicle thefts,” the House Administration Committee, which oversees the Capitol complex, stated.

“The warning comes weeks after the Mexican consulate in the District warned its citizens living here to ‘take precautions’ because of surging crime, particularly in ‘areas previously considered safe.’ Guatemala’s consulate issued a similar warning,” The Washington Times reported.

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