DC residents drive short distances, afraid to go out in daylight as crime crushes city

The major crime surge in Washington, D.C., is forcing some residents to drive short distances to avoid walking while making others too afraid to leave their homes in broad daylight.

Homicides are up 28% so far this year compared to the same time in 2022, while robberies are up 67%, according to D.C. Metropolitan Police Department data Thursday. D.C. has already seen 14% more homicides this year than in all of 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

D.C. is currently on track to record the highest number of homicides in more than two decades, forcing residents to take additional safety precautions.

Stephanie Heishman, who lives in the Northwest D.C. neighborhood of Adams Morgan, told The Washington Post on Monday that she drives five blocks away to her friend's house for dinner rather than walking. She started driving after two shootings occurred in front of her apartment over the past year, including one in August that resulted in two deaths.

While D.C. earned the nickname of America's "Murder Capital" in the early 1990s after the homicide toll hit nearly 500, some residents say that the current crime wave is worse.

"It’s worse in some ways, like a wicked spirit is out there," said 53-year-old Ronald Moten, who was arrested in the 1990s for selling crack before working to keep youth from perpetrating crime or becoming victims of it. "You used to not have to worry about crime unless you were associated with the streets, with drug dealing. Now you could just be going down the street, going to the car and you can be killed."

James, a 58-year-old lobbyist who spoke to the Post on the condition of anonymity, said that he stopped walking after he, his husband and another couple were beaten by a group of minors on scooters in Dupont Circle. He stopped even walking in the afternoon after a young person threw a bottle at him as he left Whole Foods. At that point, James and his husband, who had lived in the city for nearly 30 years, decided to leave D.C. for Maryland.

James and his husband are not the only residents to flee.

In 2019, D.C.'s population was nearly 706,000. By 2022, the population shrunk to less than 672,000, according to Census data. In 2021 alone, the city lost 20,000 residents, Axios reported earlier this year. D.C. is blaming the population loss on a desire for more affordable housing.

D.C. has seen multiple mass shootings over the past year. The city has been struggling particularly with youth violence, as children as young as 11 have been charged with armed robbery.

Follow Madeleine Hubbard on X or Instagram.