Days before a series of violent carjackings left one man dead and another in critical condition, dozens of D.C. denizens reported their own vehicular victimization during a 72-hour spree.
(Video: Fox 5)
Long dubbed the swamp connecting the area’s historical landscape with the muck and mire of the federal bureaucracy, Washington, D.C.’s reputation continued to sink leading into the weekend when more than 60 cars had reportedly been broken into across the northwest area of the city.
According to the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPDC), beginning Thursday night into Friday, at least 51 cars had had their windows smashed in the Woodley Park area before at least another 11 were vandalized in the Petworth neighborhood the following night.
“I didn’t have anything of value. I had nothing in plain view,” local Christopher Carter told Fox 5 when his vehicle was hit Friday night in front of his home. “It turned out to be just a waste of time because they broke my window and it cost me money.”
While another local, Berin Linfor, remarked that the setback could’ve been worse noting, “luckily we got it fixed pretty quickly and it wasn’t physical violence,” the same couldn’t be said for 35-year-old father of two Alberto Vasquez who was killed when a carjacker fatally shot him during the same Monday crime spree that left former Trump administration official Mike Gill hospitalized in critical condition.
The suspect believed to be the same for both shootings was himself fatally shot by police.
Former Trump official latest victim in crime-ridden DC – critically wounded in violent carjacking https://t.co/B3fhQWDU64 via @BIZPACReview
— BPR based (@DumpstrFireNews) January 31, 2024
Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) had said during a press conference Tuesday, “The violence that we saw yesterday was senseless and tragic. We know two families are experiencing an unspeakable tragedy.”
According to MPDC data, vehicle thefts had remained steady across 2022 and 2023, averaging about 21 incidents per day. Those figures had dipped some with 2024 barely under way as the average had been reported at 16 per day.
Attorney General Merrick Garland had attempted to sugarcoat statistics as he spoke to a broad decline in violent crime in some places at the same time that the Department of Justice had announced resources Friday to attempt to quell the crime wave in the capital.
“Last year, we saw an encouraging decline in violent crime in many parts of the country, but there is much more work to do — including here in the District of Columbia,” said the nation’s top cop. There had been a reported decrease in carjackings of 19% year-to-date with 42 prior to Monday’s fatal incident.
The DOJ explained that federal prosecutors from their Criminal Division would begin working alongside the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C. to crack down on carjackings and firearms cases. Garland added, “This surge in law enforcement resources will build on the department’s efforts to target the individuals and organizations that are driving violent crime in the nation’s capital. The Justice Department will not rest until every community in our country is safe from the scourge of violent crime.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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