The surge in Washington, DC, crime will impact how residents enjoy the Christmas holiday season, District Ward 5 ANC Commissioner Kathy Henderson warned.
“We’re supposed to be pivoting into celebrating the holiday season, but citizens continue to be afraid,” Henderson told Fox 5 after a rash of shootings.
Henderson’s statement reflects this year’s surging crime in the District, according to Police:
- Homicide rose 33 percent
- Robbery spiked 67 percent
- Motor vehicle theft increased by 97 percent
- At least 760 carjackings occurred in the first ten months of this year
- 65 percent of those arrested for carjacking are juveniles
- U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves, who is responsible for prosecuting those D.C. police arrests, prosecuted only 56 percent of those arrested in 2023
Several restaurants are closing due to cost and crime. Whole parts of the city are impacted, such as H Street, where many shelves are bare.
Police said Thursday that five people were shot in five hours. Since Friday, criminals murdered 244 people — the highest number of murders in the city since 2003, Fox 5 reported.
Crime impacts nearly everyone in the District.
On November 12, the Secret Service on Sunday opened fire on three individuals in Washington, DC, trying to break into the SUV of President Joe Biden’s granddaughter, Naomi Biden.
The incident alarmed residents.
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“Even President Biden’s granddaughter, who is protected by secret service, isn’t safe from crime in DC,” Gabriel Nadales posted on X. “How many people have to be hurt before DC city officials will start to take crime seriously?”
Follow Wendell Husebø on “X” @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.