D.C. Metro mechanic Robert Cunningham — known as “Bob” or “Ham” to friends and co-workers — died heroically this week, giving his life to prevent what could have been another mass shooting. As Wednesday’s morning commute was wrapping up, an active shooter exited a bus, ran down the escalator into the Potomac Avenue Metro station in Southeast Washington and started threatening passengers. When the shooter approached a woman, Mr. Cunningham intervened. He was a mechanic, not a police officer, but he acted to save an innocent person — and to help the transit community he proudly served for more than 20 years. He almost certainly saved lives by slowing down the shooter, giving others a chance to tackle the gunman before police arrived.
The 64-year-old is a true hero. While no words can bring him back, people across the country are honoring him. Many riders have left flower bouquets and signs at the Potomac Avenue Metro station, and people have given more than $100,000 in donations to an online GoFundMe for his family. In time, it would be appropriate for the city and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority to name a landmark after him.
For now, the focus should be on his surviving wife and children, and on making the D.C. transit system safer. While the GoFundMe is commendable, the transit agency should take care of the family. Union leaders say WMATA’s top officials have assured them that the transit authority will “do right” for Mr. Cunningham’s family. That needs to happen.
WMATA can also honor Mr. Cunningham by making the area’s public transportation as safe as possible. It’s alarming that this is the third serious shooting in the past month on the transit system. Two have died from these tragic events — Mr. Cunningham and a 17-year-old high school student. Serious crimes on the transit system jumped 33 percent from 2021 to 2022, WMATA data show. Compared with before the pandemic, there’s more crime now, given the level of current ridership, than there was in 2019. Additional riders won’t return unless they feel safe.
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End of carouselAlso on the Editorial Board’s agenda
- The misery of Belarus’s political prisoners should not be ignored.
- Biden has a new border plan.
- The United States should keep the pressure on Nicaragua.
- America’s fight against inflation isn’t over.
- The Taliban has doubled down on the repression of women.
- The world’s ice is melting quickly.
Ihar Losik, one of hundreds of young people unjustly jailed in Belarus for opposing Alexander Lukashenko’s dictatorship, attempted suicide but was saved and sent to a prison medical unit, according to the human rights group Viasna. Losik, 30, a blogger who led a popular Telegram channel, was arrested in 2020 and is serving a 15-year prison term on charges of “organizing riots” and “incitement to hatred.” His wife is also a political prisoner. Read more about their struggle — and those of other political prisoners — in a recent editorial.
The Department of Homeland Security has provided details of a plan to prevent a migrant surge along the southern border. The administration would presumptively deny asylum to migrants who failed to seek it in a third country en route — unless they face “an extreme and imminent threat” of rape, kidnapping, torture or murder. Critics allege that this is akin to an illegal Trump-era policy. In fact, President Biden is acting lawfully in response to what was fast becoming an unmanageable flow at the border. Read our most recent editorial on the U.S. asylum system.
Some 222 Nicaraguan political prisoners left that Central American country for the United States in February. President Daniel Ortega released and sent them into exile in a single motion. Nevertheless, it appears that Mr. Ortega let them go under pressure from economic sanctions the United States imposed on his regime when he launched a wave of repression in 2018. The Biden administration should keep the pressure on. Read recent editorials about the situation in Nicaragua.
Inflation remains stubbornly high at 6.4 percent in January. The Federal Reserve’s job is not done in this fight. More interest rate hikes are needed. Read a recent editorial about inflation and the Fed.
Afghanistan’s rulers had promised that barring women from universities was only temporary. But private universities got a letter on Jan. 28 warning them that women are prohibited from taking university entrance examinations. Afghanistan has 140 private universities across 24 provinces, with around 200,000 students. Out of those, some 60,000 to 70,000 are women, the AP reports. Read a recent editorial on women’s rights in Afghanistan.
A new study finds that half the world’s mountain glaciers and ice caps will melt even if global warming is restrained to 1.5 degrees Celsius — which it won’t be. This would feed sea-level rise and imperil water sources for hundreds of millions. Read a recent editorial on how to cope with rising seas, and another on the policies needed to fight climate change.
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General Manager Randy Clarke has a tough task ahead with ridership still weak and the system’s financing in doubt. WMATA has increased police patrols about 30 percent during peak commute times, hired several crisis intervention specialists and installed more video systems. But the deaths in recent weeks underscore that more is necessary.
As selfless as Mr. Cunningham’s action was, it should not have been necessary. It shouldn’t take another tragedy for WMATA to improve.