Two people were killed and two others were seriously injured after a shooting just steps away from Nationals Park, adding to the yearlong violent crime wave that the D.C. Council chairman sought to address Thursday with new legislation.
Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said the shooting took place around 11:45 a.m. on the 1300 block of Half Street Southwest, right outside the Friendly Food Market.
Chief Smith did not name the victims but said they were one woman and three men without specifying the sexes of the deceased. The two survivors are in critical condition.
She did confirm that the vehicle of interest police are looking for — a white Jeep Cherokee with Maryland tags and license plate number 2DF0820 — was the same vehicle that was carjacked Wednesday night in D.C. police’s Fourth District.
“We are working with our federal partners very feverishly to ensure that we bring these suspects to justice,” Chief Smith said.
The bloodshed came hours after D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson introduced a bill that he said will get at the roots of the city’s criminal element.
Mr. Mendelson’s proposal aims to track repeat violent offenders, hire civilian investigators and crack down on derelict properties that are seen as sources of criminal activity.
The bill also calls on the District to create a working group focused on preventing deadly shootings and providing social services as needed.
Further, the legislation aims to use federal Medicaid funds to help victims of violent crimes.
Seven council members have signed on as co-sponsors of the bill, giving it a strong chance of passing the 13-member council.
That includes Brooke Pinto, Ward 2 Democrat and chair of the D.C. Council’s public safety committee, as well as more progressive council members such Ward 6 Democrat Charles Allen, Ward 4 Democrat Janeese Lewis George and Ward 1 Democrat Brianne Nadeau.
“The proposals in this bill would introduce strategies that are proven to reduce violent crime, and better focus our law enforcement efforts on holding violent offenders accountable,” Mr. Mendelson said in a statement.
The bill’s name — the Evidence-Based Gun Violence Reduction and Prevention Act — appears to be a not-so-subtle dig at Mayor Muriel Bowser’s own legislation introduced in October, the Addressing Crime Trends (ACT) Now act.
Mr. Mendelson was a vocal critic of the mayor’s bill when it was first introduced.
He said its focus on relaxing police neck-restraint protocols and establishing “drug free” zones does little to ease concerns over the shootings, carjackings and robberies driving the city’s violent crime wave.
The 265 homicides recorded this year by Metropolitan Police represent a 35% increase from 2022 and stands out as the most violent year the city has seen in two decades.
Police data shows robberies are up 69% this year, and the record-high 942 carjackings are a 104% increase from last year’s 484, which was itself a record at the time.
Mr. Mendelson’s bill aims to keep records on who may be perpetrating these crimes by requiring the D.C. Sentencing Commission to release two reports per year on repeat offenders.
The legislation calls for the Sentencing Commission to compile the arrest date and most-serious charge, along with the case’s current disposition, including whether the prosecutor decided not to file charges for any reason.
The Sentencing Commission would also have to list any violent crimes for which the offender was arrested or convicted in the past five years.
Under the new bill, property owners could face tax penalties if they don’t correct building features or policies that lead to drug dealings or shootings on premises.
The mayor’s office would be responsible for estimating the cost of correcting the “criminal blight.”
Mr. Mendelson also proposes hiring civilian investigators to handle property crime cases in the District.
The civilians would participate in burglary, car theft, forgery and fraud investigations. They would not be armed or have arresting powers, and they would wear uniforms and drive cars that make clear they are not police officers.
The legislation would create the Group Violence Intervention Initiative Governing Board. The 12-member board would feature the mayor, the police chief, the D.C. Attorney General and the federal U.S. Attorney.
The group would be asked to identify people at risk of participating in shootings and figure out what social services they need to prevent them from behaving violently.
The mayor’s office said in a statement to The Washington Times that two public-safety bills endorsed by her administration should take precedence over Mr. Mendelson’s bill.
That includes the ACT Now act and the Safer Stronger Amendment Act — which would give judges more latitude to lock up violent crime suspects before trial and would subject violent offenders on parole to warrantless searches.
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