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GOP lawmaker calls nation’s capital a ‘warzone’ after staff member was robbed at ‘gunpoint’

June 10, 2024 | | Print Article

Capital City crime caught another congressional staffer in the crosshairs as a suspected armed robbery spree demonstrated how D.C. has “become a warzone.”

Whether redirecting budgets toward the green agenda, subsidizing illegal alien squatters, or merely pursuing blatant police-defunding agendas, soft-on-crime policies have unsurprisingly proved an unmitigated disaster. Sunday morning in Washington, D.C., criminality struck close to home for Georgia Rep. Mike Collins (R) who recounted a staffer had become one of the latest victims.

“Early this morning, three men attempted to rob one of my staffers and a friend at gunpoint in Navy Yard. One attacker took a watch, the other took a fist to the face,” he posted to X hours later suggesting the victims had put up a fight.

“Our nation’s capital has become a warzone because of pro-criminal policies peddled by D.C.’s government,” Collins added. “Thank the good Lord, after fending off the assailants, both young men are safe.”

The Georgia lawmaker went on to share a post from DMV News Live listing the locations of other armed robberies being investigated that were believed to have been committed by the same suspects described as three “juvenile [black males] wearing all black. (2) suspects were armed with black handguns and were last seen traveling in a 4 door sedan bearing a unknown [Maryland] tag.”

Additionally, Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department released the image of a vehicle connected to their investigation as they sought the public’s assistance on X Sunday evening, “MPD is searching for the suspect vehicle involved in multiple armed robbery offenses across the city targeting people’s money and jewelry.”

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The reported armed robbery of Collins’ staffer was only the most recent time a Capitol Hill employee has been victimized. While the suspects in Sunday’s incident were said to have been after belongings of their victims, the same was not true in March 2023 when Phillip Todd, a staffer for Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, suffered life-threatening injuries in a random attack that hospitalized him with stab wounds to the torso and head.

Making matters worse, the arrestee in the spontaneous attack, Glynn Neal, had been released from prison the day prior. It was reported that he told police upon his arrest that there was a “voice in his head telling him someone was gonna get him for what he had done and that he was gonna get that person first.”

Overall, the D.C. Police Union detailed at the beginning of the year that 2023 ended with a violent crime increase of 39% as all crimes were up 26% after 274 homicides had occurred, “We are short more than 500 cops and the responsible policing that used to address this has been prohibited by misguided legislation.”

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The uptick in violent crime saw incidents climb from 3,850 in 2022 to 5,336 in 2023, according to MPD data, and the homicide total was the worst for the city since 1997. Meanwhile, even Democrats like D.C. Councilmember Brooke Pinto introduced proposals to address rising crime, including the Secure DC Omnibus bill in Jan. 2024, which went on to be signed by Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) in March allowing for common sense policing such as the ability for officers “to pursue vehicular chases if there is an imminent threat.”

Kevin Haggerty
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