Morning Roundup: Goodbye, Abe Edition
Vegetate to Close at the End of the Month
D.C. Police Seek Suspect in Series of Bank Robberies
Suspect in 9-Year-Old's Murder Found Dead in D.C. Jail
Wizards Owner Abe Pollin Dies at 85
A couple of odd and/or disturbing crimes that happened in the District this morning are making headlines.
>> Metro Transit Police are investigating a stabbing outside the Gallery Place-Chinatown Metro Station that took place early this morning. There are conflicting reports about exactly what happened. ABC7 says the unidentified victim told police he was stabbed from behind while he was going down the escalator at the metro entrance at 7th and H Streets NW. But NBC4 is reporting the victim was actually stabbed on 6th Street, and then went down into the metro station looking for help, but the station attendant was not in the kiosk at the time. Both reports confirm the victim eventually found help after collapsing outside the CVS across the street. The man was taken to a hospital and is expected to recover. Metro service was not interrupted.
>> As if the beleaguered Walter Reed Army Medical Center wasn't already facing enough bad press: An armed security guard at the hospital fired his gun at a co-worker this morning, allegedly after a dispute between the two individuals. The AP reports that the incident began around 8:30 a.m. near the hospital's entrance on Georgia Ave. NW, and that both guards, who are uninjured, were taken into custody. The Post says that between six and eight 10 shots were fired, right in front of other hospital employees using the entrance as they arrived for work. The MPD is investigating the incident.
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brilliant! a shootout among security guards.
Contract security guards (square badges, lousy pay, no benefits) often get a couple of hours of weapons training. I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often.
The last time I looked it up, private guards outnumbered sworn police officers by about six to one.
Yup, that's some sloppy training. 10 rounds fired and NOBODY was hit? WTF? Did he just give up after the gun went empty and chuck it at the guy?
If it's an Army hospital, why are private security guards employed there to begin with? I always thought it would be military personnel on duty there.
Maybe they were practicing ...
I'd like this story more if the security guards were sword fighting. And yes, I do mean that kind of sword fighting.
BTW, WTF W/ 7TH & H?
10 rounds and nobody hit. sounds like the gangbangers in my neighborhood who couldn't hit the side of barn if you gave them 100 rounds of ammo.
demonfafa: All the MPs are in Iraq.
9/11 gave the administration an excuse to buck the strong Federal police unions and hire private security for Federally-owned and leased properties, too. Their instructions are clear: in an emergency, call the real Federal cops. This adds 10 to 15 minutes to emergency response time but is justified by some budgetary flim-flam I don't care to understand.
demonfafa:
The Army now uses private guards at the gates of Fort McNair as well. The MPs are long gone from the gates (although they do still patrol in vehicles on the base). It must be an Army thing, however. The Marines use their own guards at the barracks, the Navy uses Naval District of Washington Police at the Navy Yard and Anacostia Annex and the Air Force has its own Security Forces personnel outside of Bolling.
Armed private guards can also be found at DOT, HUD, FEMA, and the State Department offices in Southwest (and I am sure at dozens of other agencies accross the city). The DOT guards are friendly to tourists getting off the Metro at L'Enfant but it always seems odd to me that they carry old-school revolvers instead of automatics.
Its funny the things you notice when jogging...