Mugging near metro

[from Susan H.]

A friend of mine was mugged last night near the Petworth metro station in the evening. He was walking from the station in the direction of Grant Circle. The mugger not only stole from him but also beat him up a little. I've asked him to be sure to let the cops know about this, but I'm hoping everyone in the area will be a little more wary at present and also report anything questionable.

Comments

[Markus]

At least we now know to look more carefully at people hanging out in an SUV. Did one of the attackers have long hair? When I saw the woman get her purse snatched a few weeks ago, the kid who got away had decently long dreads.

[Bill]

8th between Taylor and Shepherd... meaning right next to the police station... great.

[amy]

she filed a police report immediately following the incident. exactly where it was I don't know. I don't know that she knows, as she was pretty shaken by it and ran down the street afterwards until she ran into someone who took her into their home to call the police. she was walking up 8th St from the metro towards Upshur, and it happened somewhere between shepard and taylor. It was two young black men, approx 16 or 17 getting out of a new'ish SUV-like vehicle that was waiting with someone else inside.

[PetworthResident]

Amy,
Did your friend give you a description of the muggers? The car? Where exactly on 8th & Taylor were they parked? IF you are not going to give us everything you know, then posting this here is a waste of time. It serves to instill fear without giving us any avenues to address this issue!

[AJS]

Agree with Matt and Bill: this is a new thing and I suspect it is the same small group of young men. If the police arrest them and get them off the street this will end.

[the Editor]

Amy, I forwarded your comment (without your name or anything) to MPD to make sure it's at least somewhat on the record. I live right off NH below Grant Circle and I agree with Matt, these muggings are a new trend. Until recently, I had only heard about two muggings in four years, and they both seemed like sort of odd aberrations.

[mjbrox]

Did she report this to the Police.

The recent muggings are not normal.

[amy]

I just moved to the neighborhood last week. My roommate was mugged Sunday evening walking home from the metro at about 8:30. On 8th and Taylor, more or less. Two young guys getting out of a parked car. She wasn't physically harmed, but that warm fuzzy new home feeling died pretty quickly.

[PetworthResident]

Is there no description of these muggers? I just can't believe that there has been this many muggings and assaults and noone has a description of them. This would help to improve everyone's safety if we had an idea of their description.

[Susan]

Since I posted the original blog on this, I've been in contact with Ms. Bowser's office and my friend has been working with the police. Everyone has been helpful and concerned. Also, there is a reporter doing a story on these muggings, so if any of you have been victims, or know a victim, you might want to contact him (probably today - I know he wants to go forward with this quickly). His info is:
Roby M. Chavez REPORTER
FOX 5 WTTG-TELEVISION
202-895-3334 (DESK)
202-438-5643 (CELL)
202-773-7581 (PAGER)
EMAIL: [email protected]
WEBSITE: HTTP://WWW.MYFOXDC.COM

[Markus]

Can the police try just a little harder? It seems to me that every muggin I've read about has been UP New Hampshire from the Metro, not at the metro. I was really glad to see cops around the metro last week, but the presence has to be increased in the area as well.

[Bill]

Last week I emailed my concerns to Commander Burton and cc'd to a number of others, including Muriel Bowser, Fenty, Captain Poteat.

Burton's response was:
"We are aware of the increase in crimes in this area. We have been reviewing the video from the crime CCTV camera at Georgia Avenue and NH Avenue to determine suspects. At this time we have not been able to come up with any suspects. In most of the attacks that we have seen recently multiple suspects assault and rob the victims. We have put additional uniform and plain cloths officers in the area to attempt to locate and arrest suspect. We ask that everyone stay aware of their surrounding and call of they see anything that doesn’t look right."

Poteat's reply included this:
"We have a Tactical Operation to address the robberies in the community. This past Tuesday we were able to apprehend a suspect who we believe has been committing early morning and late night robbery at the Metro Bus Stops during the past two months. We are working with Metro as well as 4D Detectives and the Vice Unit in regards to the recent robberies."

[reuben]

Folks, please be careful. Now that its getting darker earlier (though- a lot of muggings also seem to be taking place during the day!)-and, before you know it, the holiday season will be upon us, the crime cretins really start to do their thing....

[PetworthResident]

Can you give us a description of the attackers/robbers? Were they black? White? Hispanic? Short? Fat? Tall? What color hair? Long or short? We must be vigilant to root out this crime in our neighborhood by identifying these people. Especially since the bulk of these crimes are committed by a small number of people.

[Lisa]

Yes, there have been a whole string of incidents lately, most involving beatings (one taser mugging). It is most likely the same group, and they are realizing they can get away with it. I think it might be an excellent idea to consider an Orange Hat brigade to walk that area by the Metro. I posted this on the Petworth list and received a few interested responses, but not a critical mass. If there's anyone here who'd be interested in getting involved, please contact me at [email protected] I will probably also try to post on the Prince of Petworth list regarding this.

[Joe Martin]

With public safety in mind, I spoke to Paula Blair at Pepco this morning to ask for prompt action on getting the lights fixed inside Grant Circle. Donald Kirk of the National Park Service told me a few weeks back that the ball is in Pepco's court. The issue has taken an absurd amount of time. Both agencies owe it to the neighborhood to get this resolved. I would like to know if there have been any crimes committed against pedestrians passing through Grant Circle. Feel free to email me directly:
[email protected]

[mjbrox]

This seems to more and more common.