Georgia Rep. Mike Collins says staffer among those robbed, beaten in Capitol Hill area attack

Georgia GOP Rep. Mike Collins says a member of his congressional staff was robbed at gunpoint this past weekend in Washington, D.C’.s Navy Yard neighborhood. 

Collins posted on X that three men approached one of his staffers and his friend early Sunday morning. He said one attacker stole a watch and another punched one of the victims during the incident.

One of the attackers allegedly possessed a gun.

The Metropolitan Police Department confirmed the incident, saying officers were sent to report on a possible robbery just before 2 a.m.

The department also posted an image on its official social media accounts of a suspected getaway car and requested anyone with leads contact the department. However, the agency did not identify the victims.

Collins used the event to criticize what he considers the District’s loose policies on criminal activity.

“Our nation’s capital has become a warzone because of pro-criminal policies peddled by D.C.’s government,” he said in his post. “Thank the good Lord, after fending off the assailants, both young men are safe.”

In April, President Biden signed into a law a measure passed in Congress with bipartisan support that overruled a measure passed by the Democrat-led D.C. Council that was considered too soft on crime amid rising homicides and car thefts rates.

Among the concerns was the overhaul to D.C.'s criminal statutes that reduced the maximum penalties for crimes like armed carjacking from 40 years down to 24, according to NPR.