Three times as many people died from murder in Washington, D.C. than from Covid-19 in July.
QUICK FACTS:
- Homicides in Washington, D.C., surpassed coronavirus deaths in the city “by a nearly 3-to-1 ratio in July as the nation’s capital continues to grapple with an uptick in murders,” reports Fox News.
- There were 21 homicides in the city, compared to eight coronavirus deaths.
- Nyiah Courtney, only 6 years old, was among those killed.
- Trayon White—councilman of Ward 8—said, “We’ve put a lot of resources and time into the COVID pandemic,” but “We’re in a pandemic right now when it comes to crime in this community and we got to start acting it.”
- There were 113 homicides in DC this year as of July 30, compared to 108 last year, data from the Metropolitan Police Department shows.
BACKGROUND:
- DC recorded 100 homicides in 2021 by July 10, the earliest the city has hit that number since 2003, Fox notes.
- Usually, that number isn’t reached until Oct. 25, the DC Police Union claimed, factoring in the average date over the past 10 years.
- There was a double shooting on Saturday that killed Kervin Sanches, a 31-year-old teacher and father of four, according to FOX5 DC. Another man was injured. His fiancée, Patrice, said they were planning a wedding for October and had just bought their first home in DC.
- “Sanches worked at the Imagine Hope Community Charter School. As of Monday morning, no arrests have been made in the case, the station reported.”
- “In addition to just recently losing my friend, I have two students, one who I formerly coached who just graduated from high school that was recently hospitalized due to being shot in broad daylight in Northwest DC. And then another young man who I currently coach who was shot, maybe a week or so ago, and injured,” Marvin Moore, a friend of Sanches, told FOX5 DC.
- A shooting took place last week in a high-end DC community in broad daylight (see below).
- The report of the DC murder rate comes two weeks after gunfire outside of Nationals Park in the city prompted fans to flee from the stands (see below).
- Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser gained attention in early June of 2020 for sectioning off a portion of 16th Street near the White House to be painted with the words “Black Lives Matter” in bright yellow.
- She also expressed support for the “defund the police” movement attached to Black Lives Matter (BLM). “Well, we know the job of the activist is to call their issues to elected officials and our local chapter is no different,” Bowser said in an interview. “And we know, certainly I do, what our public safety needs are in Washington, D.C., and they’re not just policing. They include all of our opportunities to equalize opportunity. And all of our non-law-enforcement initiatives that are meant to interrupt violence.
- In later June of 2020, DC lawmakers on advanced measures to cut $15 million from the police department budget, according to The Washington Post.
- Now, over a year later, Mayer Bowser is now proposing hiring 170 additional officers after the city’s effort to defund law enforcement last year led to a freeze in acquisitions, according to The Washington Examiner.
- “Right now, I have directed MPD to use any overtime necessary to meet our public safety demands. But we know that is not a complete solution or the right long-term solution,” the Democratic mayor said in a statement last Wednesday. “We also know we need all of our officers to be fresh, rested, and in the best position to make good decisions — and that requires having a full force to meet all of our community’s needs. The department is in a good position to make additional hires and move swiftly to close the gap between attrition and hiring, and that’s what this plan is going to help us do.”
Jon Fleetwood is Managing Editor for American Faith.
