Barry's Robbery Belies Community on the Rise

Residents of Washington View Apartments walked their dogs, chatted with friends and unloaded groceries yesterday, shrugging off the heightened media and police attention after D.C. Council member Marion Barry said he was robbed in his home there Monday.

Some said they were shocked that anyone would rob the former mayor, who often gives money to people who ask. But more than anything, residents said, they were surprised that he was robbed in his apartment because the neighborhood -- once among the city's most lawless -- now is mostly a peaceful place to raise families.

"I'm sorry it happened to him in our neighborhood," said Carolyn Blondheim, who has lived in the Washington View complex for two years. "This neighborhood is great."

As of yesterday evening, police had few leads and no tips despite their request for help from the community. Three detectives showed up at the complex in the afternoon to continue their investigation, but Cmdr. Joel Maupin said police have no suspects.

On Tuesday, Barry urged the two young men who robbed him at gunpoint Monday night to turn themselves in and promised he would try to persuade authorities not to prosecute them. He also said the crime "kind of hurt" because of his reputation as an advocate for the underdog.

The robbery of the Ward 8 councilman by teenagers who he said had helped him carry his groceries into his apartment has focused attention on crime in this Southeast Washington neighborhood. The sprawling apartment complex in the 2600 block of Douglas Road SE sits amid a community in flux. Suburbanites buy townhouses nearby priced in the upper $200,000s -- a lot of money to many in a ward where the median household income is $26,000.

Residents said their community feels safer than in the days when turf battles left the streets bloody. In 2005, Ward 8 remained deadly, accounting for nearly one-third of the District's 195 homicides.

Crime statistics in the patrol area that includes Barry's complex -- including neighborhoods around St. Elizabeths Hospital -- show a mixed picture. Computerized crime reports for Barry's street and police interviews reveal few violent crimes, but several burglaries and auto thefts, in recent months. The larger 7th Police District, however, showed a rise in holdups -- from 462 to 528 -- last year.

Still, Anthony Muhammad, an advisory neighborhood commissioner for the ward, said crime in communities east of the Anacostia is viewed differently from crime elsewhere.

"People are robbed every day in Georgetown and it doesn't get reported," Muhammad said yesterday after leaving a D.C. Taxicab Commission meeting on Alabama Avenue SE. He questioned whether it was prudent to devote too many resources to solving one crime when the same thing happens to so many others each year.

At the same time, Muhammad said, the office of the council member and former mayor needs to be respected. "How does it look around the world for a public official to be robbed?" he asked.

One woman who did not want to give her name said the robbery of Barry surprised her because most everyone knows who he is. "All the kids love him," she said. "It's sad, but it has happened to a lot of us."

Twavonne Walker, who moved to the complex in July, said she works nights but seldom feels threatened. Darrell Green, the former Washington Redskins great, has a learning center below her apartment, and there's a teen center down the hill.

"Don't nobody bother you," she said while loading her 4-year-old son, Paul, into a car to run an errand. "It's a nice neighborhood."

Renee Resper, a two-year resident of the neighborhood, said perhaps Barry felt too safe. "This is the first time I have heard about something like this," she said. "But I don't know what would make him let them in his house. I take my own stuff in the house."

Chantaeu Hewitt, 18, said there are infrequent fights between youths from nearby communities but not the type of robberies that happened to Barry.

"That don't happen too often," said Hewitt, a student at Ballou High School. "He had to know them."

Staff writer Del Quentin Wilber contributed to this report.