The surge in shootings in the Columbia Heights area is the worst in nearly a decade according to a local lawmaker who called Friday fora broad range of beefed up law enforcement efforts in the Northwest neighborhood.
Violent crime in the area continued Friday even as every D.C. police officer began to hit the streets as part of Chief Cathy Lanier’s weekend All Hands on Deck initiative.
“This is the worst I’ve ever since in nine years in office,” said City Councilman Jim Graham. “But we have very aggressive strategies and I’m optimistic that they will get carried out.”
Graham continued to call for more permanent police presence, an expansion of gang-intervention programs, and Shotspotter technology that would help authorities identify where the shots are fired as soon as they happen.
The FBI provided the District its Shotspotter system, and it was being used only in a few neighborhoods on the east side of the city. Graham was confident that police would add the technology to Columbia Heights.
A D.C. police officer was hospitalized early Friday after he was struck while trying to stop a stolen car from pulling out of a gas station at Harvard Street and Sherman Avenue, officials said.
The officer, Matthew Mahl, 26, fired several rounds at the suspect, who was eventually arrested in the 2500 block of 13th Street, said Graham, who was briefed by police about the incident. Police late Friday provided a video of the incident, which can be viewed by going to http://www.mpdc.dc.gov/.
Both the suspect and the officer were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The violent encounter came a day after Columbia Heights and nearby neighborhoods were rocked by violence. Ten people were shot on Halloween, one fatally. And an armed carjacking that originated in the 1700 block of Columbia Avenue ended in the fatal police shooting of the suspect in Prince George’s County. Authorities on Friday identified the carjacking suspect asTyvone Anderson, 24, of the 100 block of Shorpstead Lane.
Graham attributed most of the shootings to the gangs. He has asked for an expansion of the Hispanic gang-prevention unit to include black crews.
Residents of Northwest Washington complained that crews of juveniles were hanging out on the streets where much of the violence was taking place.
Assistant Police Chief Diane Groomes said police could not order the young men off the corners because loitering was not illegal in D.C., but she suggested that residents urge their council members to pass “no loitering” laws.
This weekend, Lanier has ordered an All Hands on Deck initiative, calling in all 3,800 officers to perform additional foot patrols, serve warrants on the most violent criminals, provide traffic enforcement and listen to the concerns of residents and business owners.
