Don't Shoot Me!

Lately it seems as though every other resident in DC besides me is packing a piece (for those less street-savvy people, this means carrying a gun). Unfortunately, these idiots who are carrying guns are beginning to have no qualms about using them anytime they feel the urge to shoot another person. Let's take a look at what has happened in NW DC in just the last few days. On Wednesday November 21st at 11:24 AM (yes, that is "AM"), an officer was patrolling in PSA 403 in the 500 block of Kennedy Street NW when he observed two individuals shooting at another person in the 700 block of Kennedy Street NW. The two suspects got away (not quite sure how) but left their pieces at the scene. A traffic enforcement officer was shot in the leg, sustaining only non-life threatening injuries. Just 200 feet away from this shooting, a small child, no more than 5 years old, was out riding his bike with his father. People were going about their day, opening stores along Kennedy Street, jogging, and walking to the bus stop. It is amazing that no one was killed.

On Saturday November 24th, three people were shot and wounded in Columbia Heights when gunfire broke out shortly before 9 PM in the 700 block of Harvard Street NW. According to the Washington Post, this area of the city has been troubled by violence in recent weeks. According to the Post, this shooting occurred in an area of the city where more than 100 gunshots have been fired since the beginning of October. At least seven people have been hit by gunfire in these shootings.

According to an email sent over the MPD-4D listserv, on November 25th at 5:15 AM, a resident in the 5600 block of 14th Street NW (exactly 7 blocks west of the Kennedy Street shooting), a person was shot once in the stomach.

This is seriously out of control. It feels as if a bunch of hoodlum vigilante's are running around DC and just shooting at people they have a beef with. I'd be fine if they consistently hit their target without hurting innocent people, but we all know it usually doesn't work out this way. What will often happen is a child will get shot when a bullet breaks through their living room window, hitting her while she's watching television. Only then will the public officials all come out and describe their various initiatives to prevent another tragedy from happening. There will be a public prayer vigil (people failing to realize that you can't pray your way out of these circumstances), some knee-jerk emergency crime legislation, and heightened media attention for 2 or 3 months. Then, our myopic memories get the best of us and we move on to something more important, like a baseball stadium.