Cluster of Shootings, Drug Crimes Brings Police Initiative
By Clarence Williams
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, June 10, 2007
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.
On April 22, 18-year-old Edwin B. Ventura, who was about to graduate from Bell Multicultural School, was shot to death near Columbia Road and Sherman Avenue while standing with friends.
A few days later, five men drove around the neighborhood shooting a gun into the air.
Police still do not know who killed Donte Manning in March 2005, when stray bullets struck the 9-year-old in the 2600 block of 13th Street.
Police have stepped up patrols in the area, only to be thwarted. Cmdr. Larry McCoy said several shootings occurred when officers were on patrol around the corner.
"They don't care," McCoy said. "They're shooting a block away."
D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) pins his hopes on commercial and retail outlets opening and eventually driving out much of the crime. In the meantime, as violent crime ebbs and flows, there is little to do but draw attention to the problem.
"We've got to call attention to it, because by calling attention we get resources," Graham said.
On Wednesday night, residents joined a vigil held on a basketball court to mourn the loss of Terry, using the memorial as an opportunity to renew their determination to curb drugs and violence.
Columbia Heights native Lamar Thompson, 23, wandered into the vigil. It vexed him that "a little young'n" was killed in his neighborhood. He took a drag on a cigarette, angry that the victim was a child.
As the candles were blown out and nearly 200 mourners headed back to their apartments, rowhouses and condos, Thompson said he suspected peaceful sentiments would not last. People seem to show their concern only when children get killed, he noted.
"Beefs are going to go on and on," he said. "The people on the street are going to forget [the vigil] and move on."
Less than one hour after the vigil ended, bullets fired from a passing car hit a man in the thigh just around the corner, at 13th and Fairmont streets.
Standing near the crime scene as police marked a half-dozen shell casings, residents again expressed their outrage to Graham, hours after they had met with him earlier that evening.
"There is no sense of lawfulness in this neighborhood," said Paul Whatling, who bought a condo on Fairmont Street 2 1/2 years ago. "We've gone back to the old days. That's what we're upset about. This in the last week, this is the worst it's ever been."
Discomforting scenes reminiscent of the old days are common, residents say. Drug buyers cruise in cars with Maryland and Virginia license plates. People brazenly smoke marijuana on the sidewalk. Crack addicts light up in alleys.
Residents say they are living in a danger zone. On the Thursday night before last week's shootings, alarmed residents called police when 50 neighborhood toughs battled in a street brawl. It was the latest in what neighbors believe are squabbles between a Fairmont street group and another crew located a few blocks to the north.
Lifelong resident Gildeon Israel, 49, has seen this kind of "beefing" happen almost annually. But it has grown worse, he said, because young outlaws are shooting into areas, paying no heed to the children playing around them.
"They don't have no respect for the kids, the older folks or the neighborhood," Israel said.
D.C. police Lt. James "Bart" Dykes said that he has been directing officers to make drug arrests around 14th and Girard streets and 14th and Fairmont streets. Police also have cleaned up the Girard Street park, the focus of complaints about loitering and drinking.
Yesterday, Dykes oversaw the outdoor roll call for street officers and spent $300 out of his own pocket to buy hamburgers and hot dogs for neighbors. He wanted to show how committed he is to making life safer in the neighborhood.
"I really use my resources to the best of my ability," Dykes said. But, noting last week's shootings, he added: "For me, it's frustrating."
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