A city effort to curtail gang violence in the District’s Columbia Heights and Shaw communities has been astonishingly successful, officials said Wednesday: There have been no Hispanic gang-related homicides in D.C. since Oct. 9, 2003.
The Gang Intervention Partnership was launched in the summer 2003 to address skyrocketing violence among Hispanic gangs in an area from Howard University to just north of Columbia Heights — along Metro’s Green Line — where virtually all Hispanic gangs are based. The last homicide occurred inOctober 2003, the result of a five block-long gun battle that killed a young man and injured a bus driver.
“That violence really galvanized our determination as a community to assemble all of the stake holders, all of the people who could make a difference and bring them together, and really root it in community participation,” Ward 1 Council Member Jim Graham said during a news conference at the Latin America Youth Center on Columbia Road. “This shows that when you have all of that presence present, it really works to change things.”
In the four years prior to the partnership launch, 21 youths were killed in the Columbia Heights area as a result of 40 gang-related attacks. In the three years since, five people have been attacked and one person killed — the Oct. 9, 2003, shooting among rival gangs that erupted after a “skipping party” on Mount Pleasant Street.
“It’s a true partnership that involves law enforcement, schools, community organizations and elected leaders all working together not simply to reduce gang violence, but also to address the economic, social and other issues that lead to violence,” said Mayor Anthony Williams.
The same concepts are now being used in other gang-ravaged city neighborhoods, particularly in Wards 7 and 8, said Police Chief Charles Ramsey. Despite Wednesday’s celebration, the chief said, the District must continue its vigilance in Columbia Heights.
Gustavo Velasquez, director of the D.C. Office on Latino Affairs, urged Mayor-elect Adrian Fenty and the D.C. Council to expand the program and provide additional funding.
Columbia Heights/Shaw, as of 2000
» 30 percent Hispanic
» 53 percent black
» 13 percent white
» 26 percent poverty rate
