In Face Of Losses, A Fight to Save Area

Cluster of Shootings, Drug Crimes Brings Police Initiative

D.C. police have responded in force around Columbia Heights since last weekend's fatal shooting of a teenage boy there.

One recent evening, an officer walked the alleys on foot patrol. A mounted officer rode a horse named Seamus who was clopping down the pavement. Hovering overhead, a D.C. crime camera took it all in.

But for many residents such as Nancy Miranda, drug dealing and gunfire are the norm for Columbia Heights, particularly after dark, and D.C. police have not been doing enough to stop it. Drug dealers "pump" product on the 1400 block of Girard Street, where Miranda's 15-year-old daughter Kaylah walks home after school. Because of the crime, Miranda is wracked by fear whenever her 9-year-old son, Alex, walks to the neighborhood recreation center.

Two shootings happened on her block last weekend.

"That block is hot as hell," said Miranda, 33, a real estate consultant who grew up just a few blocks away, at 13th Street and Park Road. "There are crackheads around here everywhere at night, walking around like zombies."

D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) went to the area Friday, reflecting its status as a crime "hot spot," to announce a summer crime-fighting initiative. Lanier returned yesterday for an outdoor roll call, held to make a visible statement of police commitment to the area. She used the occasion to announce that she is raising the reward for information on last week's slaying of Terry Cutchin, 13, to up to $50,000.

On a weekday evening, the rhythm of Columbia Heights reflects its calmer side. Parents hold the tiny hands of toddlers while crossing busy streets. Teenagers dribble a basketball in a one-on-one game of hoops. Seniors flip playing cards in the park.

It is a neighborhood in transition. White-collar employees wearing sensible shoes and business suits walk home beside workers in heavy boots covered in construction-site dirt.

In recent weeks, the nights have been punctuated by gunshots, some fatal.

About 10 p.m. June 2, gunfire killed Terry in front of his apartment building on Girard Street NW. The night before, a teenage girl was shot and wounded on the same block.

The shootings in the neighborhood stretch back months, even years, leaving many neighbors angry and afraid. In the past 60 days, nearly 50 violent crimes have pierced the Columbia Heights area with staccato regularity. Among them were two homicides and five assaults with guns.

In 2005, D.C. police recorded three homicides, 74 assaults with a deadly weapon and made 177 drug arrests in the area, according to department crime statistics. Last year, one person was killed, there were 66 violent assaults and 136 drug arrests.