Violent Week Rattles Washington

Patrick Lewis/The Tower

By Patrick D. Lewis

A week-long stretch from March 18 to March 24 saw 50 violent crimes occur across the city, more than the same period a year ago, in a notable departure from recent low crime trends in Washington, D.C.

According to Metropolitan Police Department data, the period saw 22 robberies and 28 assaults with deadly weapons, six more violent crimes than the same week last year. Although property crime and overall offenses remained much lower than 2025 numbers, the spike in violence underscores continued concerns around gun violence and youth crime in the city.

Much of the violent crime was in the city’s long-suffering Southeast quadrant, with another cluster of incidents in Columbia Heights. Closer to Catholic University, a shooting was reported at 17th and Lawrence Streets NE around 8:00 p.m. Monday. A police report says that the victim saw a suspect fire a shot before fleeing, and that the bullet passed through the hood of his jacket but left him unharmed.

The week was marked by a series of high-profile incidents, including an ambush-style shooting by two gunmen that left a United States Park Police officer wounded in the shoulder on Monday night in Southeast. Two brothers were arrested in the shooting. Around 24 hours later, police responded to a fatal shooting on Benning Road, just a few blocks from where the officer was shot and deep in the part of Washington long used as a battleground for gang conflicts. 

The week began with the emergence of security camera footage of a March 14 shooting in the East Hill neighborhood in which six suspects fired over 100 shots. Miraculously, no one was hit, but the incident led to renewed demands for more accountability for gun crimes in the city. 

Last weekend, several more “teen takeovers” in Navy Yard added to the chaos. Despite juvenile curfew zones announced for several parts of the city by interim Chief of Police Jeff Carroll, several arrests were made for disorderly behavior and violence, and at least some shots were fired in the vicinity of police and National Guard troops during brawls between juveniles. US Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro said that she wants D.C. leaders to change the law to allow her to prosecute teens for more crimes. She said that, currently, she can only prosecute teens age 16 and older as adults for murder, rape, burglary, and armed robbery.

The D.C. City Council passed several laws last month aimed at making the city safer which are currently awaiting approval by Mayor Muriel Bowser (D).