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MPD Fourth District Leadership Meets with Park View Community on Public Safety

June 27, 2019

MPD Fourth District Capt. John McDonald (left) and Commander Randy Griffin (right).

In response to recent violence in the Park View neighborhood and staffing changes within the Metropolitan Police Department ((MPD), MPD Scheduled a community meeting on June 26th at the Park View Recreation Center. The meeting was well attended and included ANC1A Commissioners Michael Wray and Kent Boese as well as representatives from the Mayor’s and Councilmember’s offices.

The meeting was presided over by the new 4D Sector 3 Police Captain, John McDonald and Fourth District Commander, Randy Griffin.

While there was little information the officers could share about the active homicide investigations related to the June 19th shooting death of 29 year-old Juan Marcell Grant on the 700 block of Princeton Place, NW and the June 22nd shooting of two people on the 600 block of Morton Street where 45 year-old Melton Grant was killed, they did respond to overall public safety concerns and share some information.

Commander Griffin shared that the murders are unrelated and acknowledged that the gun related crimes are up in many parts of the city, not just in Park View. He also shared that the typical age range for those involved in shootings is between 18 and 24/25. It was interesting to note that Captain McDonald shared that MPD officers in the Morton Street area have also been shot at themselves while on patrol and that special officers have been assigned to the area. Additionally, on Morton Street MPD is collaborating with the DC Housing Authority Police for that area.

According to MPD, often what is happening is that a petty argument escalates quickly and one person has a firearm, often illegal, who then used it. For this reason, MPD has made illegal gun retrieval a priority as part of their response.

Additionally, the meeting afforded an opportunity to have a more robust conversation about public safety in general, address tensions between newer residents and long-term residents, and emphasized that staying alert and being aware of your surroundings is instrumental in staying safe when out in the community.

At the close of the meeting the Park View Rec Center staff also gave an overview of their programs and what they are doing to help reduce violence in the neighborhood, including a summer basketball tournament for young men ages 16-18 and a series of community events in the works for Friday’s this summer.

Categories: Community Meetings, Crime, homicides, MPD, Public Safety
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MPD Investigating Princeton Place Homicide

April 22, 2019

On Friday afternoon, April 19th, MPD responded to shots fired on the 700 block of Princeton Place. Sadly, the shooting resulted in the loss of life. Below is the announcement MPD shared on their listserv:

At approximately 4:04 pm, members of the Fourth District responded to the 700 block of Princeton Place, Northwest for the report of a shooting. Upon arrival, officers located an unconscious juvenile male inside the home, suffering from several apparent gunshot wounds. DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services arrived on the scene and the victim was transported to a local hospital and succumbed to their injuries.

The Metropolitan Police Department currently offers a reward of up to $25,000 to anyone that provides information which leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for any homicide committed in the District of Columbia. Anyone with information about this case is asked to call the police at 202-727-9099. Additionally, anonymous information may be submitted to the department’s TEXT TIP LINE by sending a text message to 50411.

I am grateful to both Patrol Chief Lamar Greene and Forth District Captain Sean Conboy who called me on Friday to brief me on the incident and discuss overall efforts to address crime in the neighborhood.

Regarding what neighbors can do to assist with solving Friday’s homicide, I’ve been informed that while canvassing the neighborhoods, detectives observed security cameras affixed to residences that are within a four block radius of the offense.  Many of those cameras are registered with the Capital Shield Program. If any resident has video that you think may assist with the investigation, please contact me at 1A08(at)anc.dc.gov and I can provide you the contact information or put you in contact with directives working on this case.

Chief Newsham also personally responded on Friday, and below is his statement from the scene.

 

 

 

Categories: Crime, MPD, Public Safety, Shootings
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Brief Notes from Park View Crime Meeting

January 4, 2018

Last night’s emergency crime meeting organized by Councilmember Nadeau and including Commanders from MPD’s Third and Fourth District was packed to the gills. This is all the more remarkable as the meeting was announced just over 26 hours in advance and scheduled from 6:30-7:00 pm. With over five shootings in Park View since December 24th, it was clear that the community is both angry and concerned about the day-to-day public safety in the community. I also noted that there were community members from Petworth, Columiba Heights, and other nearby neighborhoods in attendance. The image below, from Twitter, gives a good sense of how crowded the Park View Recreation Center was.

While the meeting was scheduled for 30 minutes, it ran long and cut into the regularly scheduled Park View UNC meeting by about 20 minutes.

It was announced at the start that the subject of public safety is important and CM Nadeau recognized that 30 minutes would not be enough time to fully address the issue. Because of this a follow up meeting is expected to be scheduled to continue the discussion.

The overall format of the meeting began with CM Nadeau addressing the assembly, stating what she has been doing and listing the legislation she has been working on to make streets safer, such as her Street Harassment Bill. Following CM Nadeau, Commander Wil Manlapaz (4D) and Commander Stuart Emerman (3D) gave an overview of the recent violent crime in the community, where MPD is on these cases, and what steps they are doing.

On this front, the shootings have been describes as unrelated. In some cases they’ve already made arrests (such as the shooting on the 600 block of Morton Street), and in others the cases are still open. It was also noted that MPD is aware of motives behind some of the shootings, whereas in others there is no known motive at present.

In response, both 3D and 4D have increased their presence in the community with patrol officers, along with members of MPD’s Crime Suppression Teams.

Following MPD’s reports, neighbors were given the opportunity to ask questions. However, due to the time, all questions were asked at the same time with CM Nadeau, Manlapaz, and Emerman then following to answer the questions en mass.

It is difficult to say how successful the meeting was due to the limited opportunity to engage in a deep and robust manner.

Questions and topics ranged from where things are with implementing the NEAR Act (which wasn’t answered due to time), asking MPD leadership and CM Nadeau to specifically state what they were doing to restore community safety, and asking how to break the known cycle of events that occur on the 600 block of Newton Place.

I stated that it is difficult to hear that violent crime is down 28% in the District of Columbia from 2014 through 2017, when the same period for the area 1,500 ft. around 600 Newton Place shows assaults with a violent weapon (gun) up by 42.8%. I followed up that in 2017 the Crime Map application officially reports 10 shootings in Park View, with 4 in December alone, and that to me shootings are essentially failed homicides. In his response to this point, Commander Emerman agreed.

I also strongly advocated for all of Ward 1, and Park View and Columbia Heights in particular, to be in a single police district. Beyond the logistics of deploying officers, one of the results of the divided nature of the neighborhood between two police districts is that residents don’t always know which officers to contact with regards to crime in the community, and we can’t easily get crime statistics for our neighborhood because of the fractured manner with which the neighborhood stats are available. Commander Emerman again stated that there is a new crime data application being developed to replace Crime Map and that it should be easier to use for residents.

I’ve barely touched on all that was said at the meeting. The room was crowded, extremely warm, and the pace was fairly quick. If you were there and have corrections or additions to share, please do so below.

Categories: Crime, MPD, Public Safety, Shootings
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MPD Issues 96-Hour Closure for La Morenita

November 21, 2017

As a follow up to the serious & violent incidents on Georgia Avenue, and the two specifically related to La Morenita, MPD has issue a temporary closure of the establishment. I’ve been in communication with both MPD and ABRA and have the following update from ABRA which I am sharing to keep the community informed.

From ABRA:

The Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration is investigating an incident at La Morenita Restaurant at 3539 Georgia Avenue, NW. Additionally, the Metropolitan Police Department issued a 96-hour closure for the establishment effective as of 8 p.m. last night (Nov. 20). The Alcoholic Beverage Control Board will issue a decision prior to the 96-hour closure expiring on Friday regarding what additional enforcement action, if any, is appropriate pursuant to § 25-826 (provided below).

§ 25-826. Summary revocation or suspension
(a) If the Board determines, after investigation, that the operations of a licensee present an imminent danger to the health and safety of the public, the Board may summarily revoke, suspend, fine, or restrict, without a hearing, the license to sell alcoholic beverages in the District.
(b) The Board may summarily revoke, suspend, fine, or restrict the license of a licensee whose establishment has been the scene of an assault on a police officer, government inspector or investigator, or other governmental official, who was acting in his or her official capacity, when such assault occurred by patrons who were within 1,000 feet of the establishment.
(c) A licensee may request a hearing within 72 hours after service of notice of the summary revocation, suspension, fine, or restriction of a license. The Board shall hold a hearing within 48 hours of receipt of a timely request and shall issue a decision within 72 hours after the hearing.
(d) A person aggrieved by a final summary action may file an appeal in accordance with the procedures set forth in subchapter I of Chapter 5 of Title 2.

§ 25-827. Request for suspension or revocation of license by Chief of Police
(a) The Chief of Police may request the suspension or revocation of a license if the Chief of Police determines that there is a correlation between increased incidents of crime within 1,000 feet of the establishment and the operation of the establishment. The determination shall be based on objective criteria, including incident reports, arrests, and reported crime, occurring within the preceding 18 months and within 1,000 feet of the establishment.
(b) The Chief of Police may close an establishment for up to 96 hours, subject to a hearing and disposition by the Board under § 25-826 if he or she finds that:
(1) There is an additional imminent danger to the health and welfare of the public by not doing so; and
(2) There is no immediately available measure to ameliorate the finding in paragraph (1) of this subsection.
(c) The order of the Chief of Police to close an establishment under subsection (b) of this section shall terminate upon the disposition by the Board of the matter under § 25-826.

§ 25-828. Notice of suspension or revocation
(a) If the Board orders the suspension or revocation of a license, the Board shall post a notice in a conspicuous place at or near the main street entrance of the outside of the establishment.
(b) The posted notice shall state that the license has been suspended, the period of the suspension, and that the suspension is ordered because of a violation of this title or of the regulations promulgated under this title.
(c) Any person willfully removing, obliterating, or defacing the notice shall be guilty of a violation of this chapter.

Categories: ABRA, MPD, Public Safety, Public Safety
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Week of Early Morning Violent Crime has MPD Focused

November 20, 2017

During the past week there have been three violent incidents located on Georgia Avenue between Newton Place and Otis Place.

I’ve been communicating with MPD on these incidents and confirmed that the area is currently being patrolled and that there are extra officers in the vicinity. I’ve also contacted and am working with ABRA to see if there is an issue here with proper serving of alcohol or any other liquor related violations. This seems possible to me due to the hours of the incidents and the location.

In the earlier hours of Sunday, November 19th, two incidents were reported. The first is a homicide where the victim was shot near 3610 Georgia and was found on Spring Road:

(Washington, DC)  – Detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide Branch are investigating a fatal shooting that occurred in the 1000 block of Spring Road, Northwest, on Sunday, November 19, 2017.

At approximately 2:01 am, members of the Fourth District responded to the listed location for the report of an unconscious person.  Upon arrival, officers located an unconscious adult male suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.  DC Fire and EMS transported the victim to an area hospital for treatment.  All life-saving efforts failed and the victim was pronounced dead.

The decedent has been identified as 25-year-old Christian Isaac Lopez Ramirez, of Northwest, DC.

The Metropolitan Police Department currently offers a reward of up to $25,000 to anyone that provides information which leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for any homicide committed in the District of Columbia.  Anyone with information about this case is asked to call the police at 202-727-9099.  Additionally, anonymous information may be submitted to the department’s TEXT TIP LINE by sending a text message to 50411.

The other incident report on Sunday occurred at La Morenita:

At 1:40 this morning an adult male victim was inside of La Morenita at 3539 block of Georgia Ave. NW.  The victim went outside to smoke and asked the suspect for a cigarette.  The male suspect produced a handgun from his waistband and struck the victim in the face with the gun.  The victim fled on foot and flagged down police a short time later.  As a result of the assault the victim was transported to the hospital for a minor injury to his nose.
The lookout for the suspect is a Hispanic male 30-35 years old, 5’6” wearing a blue jacket.

Anyone with information regarding this offense can reach MPD at (202) 727-9099 or text to 50411

The incident at La Morenita is troubling particularly as it was the same location as a violent incident in the early hours of Monday, November 13th, reported below:

At 2:10 this morning 4D units responded to a business establishment in the 3500 block of Georgia Ave. NW for the report of an assault.  The investigation revealed that a female suspect was involved in an argument with a waitress.  The suspect jumped over the counter and began striking the waitress with her fists.  When another waitress attempted to intervene, the suspect grabbed a knife off the counter.  The suspect chased the two waitresses with the knife but they were able to retreat to the bathroom and lock the door.  The suspect went outside and got her male friend.  While they were outside another employee locked the front door of the restaurant.  The male suspect kicked the front door in then both suspects went to the bathroom to try to confront the victims.  The male suspect kicked a hole in the bathroom door but prior to forcing the door all the way open 4D units arrived on the scene and arrested both suspects.  Arrested and charged with ADW knife, threats to do bodily harm and destruction of property were 19 year old Lidia Ventura of Northeast Washington, DC and 28 year old Eric Umana of Northwest Washington, DC.

 

Categories: ABRA, Crime, MPD
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