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Well, this situation just keeps getting worse and worse, now doesn't it? It was awful enough that Thursday's shooting at the Columbia Heights Metro station stemmed from an orientation for the District's Summer Jobs Program, but news broke earlier this evening that the main suspect in the crime is a nineteen-year-old who had been interning in, of all people, Councilman Jim Graham's office.
How this story could get any more depressing and entangled in local government is difficult to imagine at this point; what is clear is that we're going to be hearing about this incident for quite some time.
The councilman's account is as follows:
By early [Friday] afternoon, I received a call from media with a rumor that the shooter was an intern in my office.I could hardly believe what I heard…all the same, I confronted the young man with this incredible report. He had started work in my office only this week, and had been absent for the better part of two days.
He had been at the Convention Center for the summer youth program. In response to my direct questions, he denied any involvement with the afternoon shooting.
I also contacted a high ranking MPD official, who assured me that MPD at that time had no suspects.
I then went to the Mayor's press conference on gang violence at 14th and Irving. During the press conference, I heard MPD announce that they had a suspect and expected to make an arrest before the end of the day.
When I got back to the office, after 5 PM, all the interns had left. But I received a call from MPD saying they had a warrant for the intern's arrest on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon.
I then called the intern, whose is a 19 year old named Devyn Black, and told him there was a warrant out for his arrest.
I advised him that the best course for action was for him to turn himself in, and cooperate with eh police.
I offered to come and get him in my car and take him to the Third District headquarters at 17th and V.
He agreed, and I went and got him. He surrendered to police and 3D, was charged and is now in custody.
It's very sad and upsetting. But he did the right thing ultimately.
Very sad, indeed.
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Please please tell me this means we can ban Graham like a cheap nightclub
"I offered to come and get him in my car and take him to the Third District headquarters at 17th and V."
Park illegally, and show him, if he wants to break laws; become a Councilman.
seriously, you people can snark about this one all you want, but would you have had the intestinal fortitude to drive to the home of someone you know has no issues with pulling a gun on a person, letting that person into your car, and driving with them to what you both know is the last place they really want to be?
highly doubt it. jim graham comes off as a very brave guy here.
Please...the Grahamstander is no more brave than any other person who works with youth in this city....
Yeah, @adamsmorgan, frankly anyone who works with underprivileged youth beyond the age of 12 in this city is being rather brave. I'm sure most of them are lovely people - I'm not going to the various risks involved in trying to find out personally...
No, IMGoph is exactly right. Knew the guy for about a week and offers to drive him to jail. That's above 'works with youth'
Also, he makes contact before the MPD?
Also, he makes contact before the MPD?
No, MPD called Graham and told him they were about to arrest an intern in his office.
Before making Graham out to be some kind of hero, consider the circumstances. Friday morning Graham blasts listserves with message condemning the terrible shooting, says we need tougher criminal laws, and also praises the Summer Jobs program, stating "I have had young gang members work in my office, with good results as part of this program."
Early that afternoon, he hears rumor that the one who did the shooting is an intern in his office. Later that afternoon, he gets call from MPD saying they are about to make arrest. He calls the intern, tells him that he is about to be arrested, convinces him it would be better to turn himself in, and drives him to the station. Do you think that Graham feared for his life at any point?
Your comment seems to insinuate that Graham’s praise for the Youth Employment Program and support for tougher crime laws casts his actions in a less favorable light. Why? If the program helps reduce crime among otherwise unemployed youth but does not eliminate crime outright, isn’t it still worthwhile?
Perhaps the program should reduce the size of its orientation sessions, but if DC were to exclude youth gang members from participating, it wouldn’t exactly give them alternatives to engaging in violence. There are many justifications for the program (mitigating high unemployment, providing job skills, etc.) that have nothing to do with crime alleviation, but limiting it to the least crime-prone youth in the city (however that would be done) would limit the program's usefulness, IMHO.
Perhaps I wasn't clear. My point was that given earlier statements and events, the shooter turning out to be a summer intern in Graham's office is a bit of an embarrassing situation. Graham defused this embarrassment somewhat by driving the intern to the police station (he was about to be arrested anyway). The praise of Graham's "bravery" and "courage" seems a bit silly to me.
Graham gets kudos from me for how he handled this ironic tragedy. Taking the kid to the station was a class act thing to do.
And again, no one is denying that what Graham did was a good thing, but it's the same thing that anyone who works with kids would do...If Graham is such an advocate for youth (as he likes to tell you in all his emails), then going to help this kid turn himself in, should be an automatic...it shouldn't be something he then needs to be commended for his bravery. Unless of course you want to start commending everyone who works with kids for their bravery....but then again, they don't get on the listserves and talk about how great they are, they just go about their daily business.
I don't read too many of the listserves but I haven't seen Graham out telling us how great he is because he did the right thing in this situation. This was big local news with or without any personal grandstanding.
I give kudos to all who are engaged with helping future generations; especially those trying to help disadvantaged kids find their way in a tough world.
I would also say, there are a significant number of folks who work with disadvantaged kids who would not have seen taking the kid to the station as 'part of their job' and would've let the police take it from there.
IMGoph-
Very good points. Reaching out to an obviously stressed and unstable young man, offering guidance, convincing him to turn himself in, actually seeing that action through. Those are all classy things to do.
For those who tend to think the worst of Graham, consider the typical caricature of him would have had him do the exact opposite- "grahamstanding" in front of cameras while someone else did the heavy lifting of actually resolving the situation.
Other reports are saying that the kid was interning in Graham's office as part of the Summer Jobs program already.
He had started work in my office only this week, and had been absent for the better part of two days.
Yup, that sounds about right.
This incident goes to show you: No good deed goes unpunished. Councilman Graham gave this THUG the opportunity to be employed and at the same time give back to the community and what does he get in return? The very instance Graham is trying to avoid. There really is no retraining these THUGS, but I give kudos to Graham for trying. And he IS brave. If I were him, I'd just give the police the THUG's address and have them get him. Graham went above and beyond what he needed to do. He put his life in jeopardy. And for what? So sad.
Councilman Graham gave this THUG the opportunity to be employed and at the same time give back to the community and what does he get in return? The very instance Graham is trying to avoid. There really is no retraining these THUGS, but I give kudos to Graham for trying. And he IS brave. If I were him, I'd just give the police the THUG's address and have them get him.
I notice that when folks use the word "THUG" it's nearly always in ALL CAPS. Is this an acronymn, or is its usage just a pin-head thing?
Thanks!
This Summer Jobs Program is working out great. The problem is they are the wrong kind of jobs. These kids need real jobs not pretend DC government jobs where no one knows what the goal is beyond spending money. How do we get real jobs? Kill the taxes that support silly programs like the Summer Jobs Program. I don't fault Graham for how he dealt with the aftermath but I do fault him for supporting this silly program.
I am sorry but the shooting did NOT "stem from an orientation for the District's Summer Jobs Program."
The shooting stemmed from an argument, which happened to occur at the District's Summer Jobs Program orientation.
Funny how you chose to word this. Agenda?
Well, damn, THAT is the ULTIMATE spotted: DC interns....
Sometimes a bad kid is just a bad kid...but with a little knowledge and guidance, there's a chance for change and or good.
Mr. Graham needs interns now. He can get them from John Ensign's office..
As Sommer wrote the other day about the incident:
Columbia Heights Shooting Connected to Summer Jobs Program -- "This connection appears to make it official that the city's notoriously inept summer jobs program is the absolutely most embarrassing D.C. government initiative of all time."
Not quite!
Hang on, Jim G. is lucky that he didn't make this situation worse.
1. Confronts the youth about the tip -- Could have given the kid a chance to think about what his story was going to be or to destroy evidence if he was not aware that he was a suspect yet
2. Tips the suspect off to the fact that he's about to be arrested -- he's lucky that the suspect did not flee upon hearing the news.
This of course doesn't even address the personal danger issues.
Leave police work to the police.
I also have a problem with politicians inserting themselves into law enforcement actions. The situation could have easily escalated out of hand. Suppose you had a disturbed co-worker with an arrest warrent out for him. Would you want your boss or your boss's boss handling the negotiations? The last thing we need is local DC politicians getting shot. The last time that happened, we ended up with multiple Barry administrations and the end of civilization as we know it.
Now, I'm not saying Graham is a beady-eyed Machiavellian with a martyr complex and an unquenchable lust for power that will only end in a bloodsoaked palace coup. But I am saying Lady Macbeth needs to lose the Sally Jesse Raphael glasses and LEAVE JUMBO SLICE ALONE!
"Leave police work to the police." Unless you're a delusional misguided part-time super-hero like myself who always throws himself in harms way if it is the last resort!
I think what bothers me most about the way Graham handled the situation is that he felt that he needed to include the part about driving the suspect to the police station in a press release. An explanation of the situation is fine...then he adds the giant pat on his own back for good measure.
The Post doubled-down on youth crime, with a Columbia Heights 12-incher on the front of the Metro section and some B2 Ward map breakdown of gang/crew concentrations today. Historically, DC has not had black gangs since the 1970s, and it still doesn't----not really... The bloods and cryps are now in PG County, particularly Oxon Hill, but the only REAL gangs in DC for the last 20 years are/were Hispanic: The Brown Union, La Mara R, and MS13. There is still lingering activity in all three, much of it involving distribution rights of stepped-on cocaine paste "paco," but the slayings/beatings in Columbia Heights has a very different pathology from the hispanic gang and even the Ward 8 and 7 and 5 "set/crew" sagas. The Post's reporting tries to establish a crime continuum for DC, with Columbia Heights as a hot spot. But 14th an Irving/Columbia is an island, an aberration, a monster that escaped from one of Pierre Bourdieu's worst nightmares. Here we have the newly-minted, the recently dissertated transplants, DC's fit and fancy-free intiate living within spitting distance of the children and grandchildren of the 1968 race riots (from U street to Missouri) carrying all the stigma and existential baggage of belonging to an almost superfluous population. Problem is the new wave of so-called NW thugs, are, despite their body counts, NOT THUGS AT ALL. That is to say, their gang activity has less to do with an active drug trade, and more to do with self-definition, pride, and almost pre-gentrification nostalgia. These kids buy designer clothing with their parents money, have video games, have no idea what an empty stomach feels like, but they still knife eachother not because they have to, but because they know their new petit-bourgeois neighbors are watching and now expecting. The black youths in suddenly yuppie NorthWest face an existential dilemma that the REAL thugs of NorthEast, SouthEast and PG County have, for the time being, been spared: Daily Reciprocal Encounters With A Higher Socioeconomic Strata. They see and are being seen by what 15 years ago would have been equivalent to bigfoot in their neighborhoods, liberal arts graduate students with bicycles and meat substitutes.