Authorities in Washington, D.C., are cutting checks to anyone who can help them identify the looters responsible for destroying parts of the city over the weekend.
Police Chief Peter Newsham said on Monday that the city is offering rewards up to $1,000 for anyone who can help authorities identify the people who looted stores, burned buildings, and vandalized many parts of the city after protests seeking justice for George Floyd led to riots. Many of the protesters were wearing masks, but Newsham said he is optimistic that residents would help identify those responsible.
“I’m absolutely sure that we have images available. We’ve already put out some preliminary images where the people that are seen in those images can be identified by our community. One of the things I did not mention is for those of us who don’t feel the responsibility to make identifications in those cases, and I think there will be very few of those, we will also be offering a reward of up to $1,000 for everybody who can identify one of the persons that was seen,” Newsham said.
“We’ll have video and we’ll have pictures, so my sense is that people will be angry. People will not want to have a recurrence of this, not only in our city but anywhere in the country. And I believe people are going to cooperate and come forward and give us the information we need,” he added.
The department tweeted the images of several looting suspects early Monday morning.
Additional suspect images below: pic.twitter.com/WwYIUvkoll
— DC Police Department #StayHomeDC Lite (@DCPoliceDept) June 1, 2020
Newsham noted that any of the rioters who are identified can help the department understand who is behind the destruction. City leaders throughout the nation have said they believe outsiders are responsible for the destruction, including officials in D.C.
“This will give us potentially valuable information about your question as to who was involved and whether or not this was an orchestrated event,” Newsham said.
