11 People Are Injured In What D.C. Police Call An 'Unusual' Outbreak
By Allison Klein and Clarence Williams
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Eleven people were wounded in six shootings east of the Anacostia River during a two-hour span late Thursday and early yesterday, including one episode in which four people were shot, D.C. police said.
Police raced from crime scene to crime scene, finding 10 men and one woman who had been struck in shootings between 10:45 p.m. Thursday and 12:50 a.m. yesterday. Authorities said all victims are expected to survive.
"This is a reminder that D.C. is a violent city," said Kristopher Baumann, chairman of the Fraternal Order of Police Labor Committee. "And that violence is going to remain out there until we get a real handle on crime in this city."
In a statement, D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier called the shootings unacceptable; she said police have put in place measures that include extending the hours of patrols in the areas involved and additional personnel on those patrols. She said the department was working with federal agencies "to increase our enforcement capabilities." Police also said backlogged warrants were being served.
Several of the shootings were drive-bys that left bullet holes in windows and outdoor appliances. One bullet crashed into a house and nearly hit a man and his wife who were watching a movie.
Police officials said that the paroxysm of violence was "very unusual" and that they had no indication that the shootings were related. Investigators had made no arrests last night.
"We just need to get to the bottom of what happened," said Cmdr. Robert Contee, head of the 6th District, where three of the victims were shot.
The shootings have some people concerned about the level of violence this summer and Lanier's plans to fight it. There have been fewer shootings so far this year than at this point in 2006, but the city has had 99 homicides, slightly more than at this time last year.
"The amount of violence is extreme," said D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), who said he would refrain from judging Lanier's crime-fighting plan after one violence-filled night. Lanier has initiated a plan that is specific to each area of the city. Her spokeswoman, Traci Hughes, said, "Overall, the summer crime initiative has been working."
Most of the victims were men in their teens and early 20s. Police did not release any names because the victims are witnesses. The gunfire began about 10:45 p.m. in the 4400 block of Ponds Street NE, a residential area near the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, when someone in a car sprayed more than 15 bullets, hitting two teenagers in the leg.
About a half-hour later, shots were fired in the 600 block of Raleigh Place SE, striking a 19-year-old in the back.
At 11:30 p.m., authorities were called to the 2700 block of Robinson Place SE after a drive-by shooting left two men, ages 30 and 18, with leg wounds, officials said.
Two minutes later, officers found a man shot in the leg in the 3600 block of Jay Street NE, a residential area also near the gardens.
Gunfire erupted again about 12:20 a.m. Three men and a woman were shot in an alley of the Barry Farm housing complex in the 1200 block of Eaton Road SE. The woman was shot in the buttocks. One man was shot in the calves, another in the back and the third in the thigh.
In the last shooting of the two-hour period, about 12:50 a.m., police were called to the 700 block of Congress Street SE, a few blocks from the site of the Raleigh Place shooting, where a man had been shot twice in the right arm.
Residents who live near the Kenilworth gardens said the shootings show a need for more officers in the neighborhoods, more street lighting and surveillance cameras.
Jeffrey Hall, 43, said Thursday night's shooting on Ponds Street NE was the second drive-by this summer in the 4400 block.
Hall, who works for Child and Family Services, said he and his wife, Chelivia, were watching a movie about 10:45 p.m. when they heard pop!, pop! and a loud crack.
The Halls said they looked up and realized that a bullet had pierced the window next to where they were sitting. Another bullet went through their shed, and a third punctured their air-conditioning unit.
"We were startled," Jeffrey Hall said. "I don't want to be sitting in my house and get shot." Hall recalled running outside and hearing people shouting, "My man got shot!"
"People don't have a value on life anymore," Hall said.
Calvin Lockridge 76, who lives on Raleigh Street four blocks from the shooting, said that two weeks ago, for the first time in his 33 years in Congress Heights, he saw officers patrolling in his neighborhood.
He said he prevents young men from hanging out on the corner near his house.
"I go there and tell them, 'Go, you got to leave,' " he said. "That's what the policemen have to begin to do -- move in . . . and disperse them."
Staff Writer Martin Weil contributed to this report.
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