Spurred by four murders in five hours this weekend, Mayor Adrian Fenty asked citizens Monday to come forward with information to help capture the killers.
Fenty and acting-D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier, both just 25 days into their new jobs, knocked on doors and passed out fliers in the Southeast Washington neighborhood where assailants robbed and fatally shot Kevin Vincent Bradshaw, 41, as he returned home from the hospital Saturday night.
Fenty said he wants to show he’s serious about protecting the neighborhoods.
“If you acted like this was the status quo, that would be the biggest tragedy of all,” he said.
Fenty and Lanier vowed to reduce the crime without resorting to the costly crime emergencies called by their predecessors. Last summer, when the city saw a sharp spike in violence, former Police Chief Charles Ramsey ordered mandatory six-day work weeks, which enabled the District to put an extra 500 officers on the streets each night. By the end of the year, the city had the lowest homicide rate in 21 years, but the emergency cost the city tens of millions of dollars and strained the police force.
So far in 2007, the District has had 15 homicides, a 36-percent increase from the 11 the city had during the same period last year. Violent crime overall is up 5 percent.
Lanier said she would unveil plans to redeploy resources within 48 hours, which will help police fight crime. Meanwhile, police were serving warrants for violent criminals.
Federal law enforcement officials said they are working with city police to determine whether authorities could apply federal organized crime, conspiracy or firearms laws that could result in heavier penalties.
D.C. police said they have not found any evidence that the weekend’s murders were gang-related.
Juveniles killed Bradshaw Saturday night in the 800 block of Yuma Street Southeast as he was returning home from his dialysis treatment, police said.
Another man was beaten to death with a baseball bat early Sunday morning on 11th Street Northwest between M and N streets after a fight over a parking space, police said. Police have made an arrest in that case.
The two other murders occurred in the Shaw neighborhood in the 1500 block of Seventh Street Northwest and the 1400 block of V Street Northwest.
