Woman gunned down in 'safe' DC neighborhood as Trump launches federal police takeover
Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers found a woman who was shot multiple times just after 11 a.m. Wednesday on the 3300 block of 15th Street. D.C. Fire and EMS took the unconscious woman to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Homicide detectives are investigating, though no suspects have been identified.
President Donald Trump on Monday federalized the MPD under section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, which allows the president to take emergency control of the police force for 30 days.
Within hours of the announcement, a man was gunned down in D.C.'s Logan Circle neighborhood, according to a report from local affiliate FOX 5 D.C.
The victim, Tymark Wells, 33, was shot multiple times and pronounced dead shortly after the attack, according to the report.
Hundreds of National Guard members have been deployed to the city, joining agents from federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), U.S. Capitol Police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
While D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser noted violent crime in the capital is at its lowest level in 30 years, city records show violent crime, including robberies and homicides, skyrocketed post-pandemic.
Certain neighborhoods were highlighted as particular concerns, with violent gun crimes from 2022 to 2023 rising by 460% downtown, 240% in Golden Triangle, and 216% in Brightwood, according to D.C. records.
Homicides rose 500% in the Southwest/Waterfront and H Street neighborhoods, 400% in Greenway, and 233% in Cardoza/Shaw, records show.
Trump said he may later declare a national emergency to extend the crime sweep if Congress does not get on board.
"You can't have 30 days," he said during a news conference at the Kennedy Center. "We're going to do this very quickly, but we're going to want extensions. I don't want to call a national emergency, but if I have to, I will."
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