A series of attacks at the National Mall cast a pall over the holiday weekend as police continued their search for the men who have robbed, beaten and even sexually assaulted their victims.
The latest attacks occurred early Sunday as a man and a girl were robbed — and the girl sexually assaulted — near 12th Street.
U.S. Park Police were comparing notes with the D.C. police to see if the crimes fit into any pattern. Park Police spokesman Sgt. Scott Fear said authorities have stepped up patrols on the Mall, where throngs of visitors gathered to remember America’s fallen veterans on Memorial Day.
“We’re reaching out to other jurisdictions in the area,” Fear said.
Sunday’s attack followed two similar ones late Thursday. One of them occurred in front of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History; the other was near the National Archives. In one of the attacks, a woman was kicked and beaten about the head after being robbed.
The victims have only given vague descriptions of three black men in dark clothes. One of them wore what could have been a bandana about his head and others might have covered their faces, Fear said.
