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

Guy Benson
Guy Benson  |  February 07, 2024 10:15 AM

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:

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:

Criminals are pulling up to random people on the street, waving a fun in their faces, and literally stealing articles of clothing off of their bodies.  This isn't an isolated incident, either.  Last month:

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:

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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:

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:

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

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: 

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