Crime in America's Capital City Is Completely Out of Control

Over the weekend, a carjacking victim in Washington succumbed to his wounds after being shot in the midst of a crime spree. Mike Gill, a former Republican Representative of the DC Board of Elections, leaves behind a grieving family -- a wife and three children. The assailant "found Gill sitting in his car along K Street in Northwest and shot him. Gill got out of the car and collapsed on the sidewalk. He was rushed to the hospital shortly after in critical condition," the city's CBS affiliate reported. "Hospital staff did everything they could," but they couldn't save Gill's life. This story would be awful and tragic even if it were a freakish outlier in an otherwise safe city. Our nation's capital is not a safe city. As we've documented on multiple occasions, Washington, DC is riddled with crime. The problem is getting worse.

Victims have been prominent, too -- from a Congressman who was carjacked at gunpoint, to a Congresswoman who was assaulted in her building, to multiple Hill staffers getting attacked. It's impossible not to notice. These are journalists at mainstream, left-leaning outlets:

Washington DC’s crime wave is something else.

In 2014, Detroit had *three-times* as many annual murders as DC. Now DC’s annual homicide count is higher.

via ⁦@semaforben⁩ pic.twitter.com/m9gFEOzx6M
— Derek Thompson (@DKThomp) February 5, 2024

Violent crime up by 39%
Homicide up by 35%
Motor vehicle theft up 82% … and that likely does not include the many attempts (like my car, which was totaled in unsuccessful carjacking TWICE in a private garage)

What is happening in the nation’s capital? https://t.co/Ya9yy0UxuI
— Julie Tsirkin (@JulieNBCNews) February 6, 2024

Last year, there were nearly 1,000 carjackings in DC, continuing a stunning spike in recent years. So far, year to date, dozens of carjackings have already taken place in the District. The Washington Post published a guide on how to avoid being victimized by this crime, including avoiding driving after dark. Murders have soared. Last year, DC's murders actually surpassed Baltimore's, a shocking milestone. In the past, the city's bad crime was mostly limited to certain areas and neighborhoods. Nowhere feels safe these days. A brazen armed robbery right near the White House, in broad daylight. Read these details:

The owner of an expensive Canada Goose jacket was the target of a New Year’s Day armed robbery in Northwest D.C., according to authorities. It’s a crime D.C. police have said is all too familiar. Officers showed up to the area of 400 T Street NW at around 4:20 p.m. for the report of an armed robbery. A man told police one robber approached him from behind and pointed a rifle at his back, while another armed individual got out of a dark gray vehicle with tinted windows and demanded the man hand over his belongings. He did so, and the robbers sped off in the vehicle, heading east on T Street, according to police.

Last year:

A group of armed thieves stole a Canada Goose jacket from a bicyclist in the middle of the day in Northwest D.C., police say. Surveillance video shows the moment a car blocked the cyclist's path on Belt Street NW on Tuesday, Dec. 12. Three suspects then jumped out, one of them armed with a gun. In a few seconds, they made off with his Canada Goose jacket and drove off. D.C. police said they're searching for a white 2013 Hyundai Sonata with Maryland tags. The daytime theft jarred one parent whose kids attend a preschool nearby.

DC makes it very difficult for people to defend themselves and their property, so most civilians are just sitting ducks. On and on it goes:

DC is like working in the Wild West except they ban guns for the innocent to protect themselves. https://t.co/bOsuvozYGW
— Josh Holmes (@HolmesJosh) February 6, 2024

Amid the rest of their left-wing nonsense, the DC City Council has repeatedly empowered and accommodated criminals, and the results are deeply harmful. The body's leader asserted less than a year ago that there is no crime crisis in the city, scolding Congress for holding hearings on the matter that were not sufficiently racially diverse. People are sick of it, even as leftists wring their hands about "justice," "equity" and "disproportionate impact." The real world is speaking for itself, loudly. Leaders can do what must be done, or they can contribute to the violence and decay:

We've seen in DC what happens when you decriminalize illegal vending: you get people selling consumer package goods all over the street, and police have no probable cause to arrest them, and that encourages even more retail theft. Enough of these soft-headed ideas. https://t.co/O7VW3E1BVM
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) February 6, 2024

I'll leave you with a brutal quote from a local business owner:

DC, 2024. https://t.co/99Uvc5rZ7q
— Josh Kraushaar (@JoshKraushaar) February 5, 2024

The reference to the Capitals and Wizards is about the two pro sports franchises' plan to move out of crime-plagued downtown to DC, in favor of northern Virginia.

UPDATE - The awful city council has finally decided that maybe they need to do something that isn't lowering penalties for criminals:

“The bill will increase penalties for some crimes and create new definitions for others, as well as establish drug-free zones, increase parameters for juvenile detention, and bring back police provisions rolled back by previous district crime bills.” https://t.co/vgDwdAI9vk
— Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) February 7, 2024

Any improvements that may be in the offing cannot come soon enough:

A friend (left-leaning, growing increasingly disillusioned w/ the Left) just texted that an Amazon driver had his car stolen, in the middle of the day, just outside my friend’s house in DC. Slow police response, hasn’t hit the news yet bc this kind of thing is so common now: pic.twitter.com/i6maZdJu1V
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) February 6, 2024