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Two people were shot at about 3:15 p.m. outside the Columbia Heights Metro station. At least one male is reported to have been shot three times and in critical condition, though FOX 5 is reporting that both victims were shot in the legs. The shooting is reported to have taken place near the corner of 14th & Irving Streets NW, though the incident may have begun slightly south of the Metro station, in the 3000 block of 14th Street NW. Many rounds appear to have been fired in the shooting, and details are still scant. Police have blocked off 14th Street and Irving Street in both directions, and the south entrance to the Metro station is currently closed. Avoid the area for the time being if at all possible.
UPDATE: We hear Metrobus route numbers 52, 53, 54, H2, H4 and H8, as well as the Woodley Park/McPherson Square Circulator, are being rerouted around the area.
City Desk is reporting that the shooting stemmed from an argument between two people that began on a Metro train, escalating until one of the two shot the other, along with a bystander.
WJLA places the bullets flying right outside Five Guys, only feet from the Metro station entrance.
View Double shooting at Columbia Heights Metro in a larger map
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But they have expensive condos there...I thought that meant the gang wars went away? You mean the presence of a "gastro-pub" and a Rita's doesn't mean the shootings stop?
Oh.
No 14thandYou, it doesn't mean that expensive condos replace irresponsible parents with out of control kids. What it means is that the demographic now includes responsible DC residence who invested in expensive condos for these Scumbags to now target.
Just a heads up, Sommer - your Fox 5 link is a "mailto"
I thought you were supposed to leave shells on the floor at Five Guys?
http://instantrimshot.com/
http://sadtrombone.com/
Everybody know if it's below the knee, it's not attempted murder.
I was sitting in the Potbelly the whole time and didn't see a thing until the cops rolled up. Glad I could be a wealth of information for this story.
But isn't Columbia Heights in NW? Isn't that the 'good quadrant'?
Sucks for those that were shot, though.
Guess I won't be going to Target tonight. Get it?...Target...HA HA HA.
*crickets*
Thank you!! Thank you very much!! Please, please... thank you. I'll be here all week, folks!
Not to sound really naive - I've only lived here 9 months, hence the login name - but other than an MPD babysitter, what is the city really doing about this area? I could see why it was easily neglected pre-CH metro stop and the development, but clearly this isn't the case anymore. If the city sits on its hands and doesn't do anything about the violent criminals, the newcomers will likely gather enough money and support to deal with it their own way, which will probably be a lot less equitable for the people who are just scraping by and need assistance but aren't shooting guns outside of a freakin metro stop in a heavily trafficked area.
Your naivete is so cute. I remember when I had faith in DC law enforcement.. I was so drunk that day.
I'm not quite sure I understand; you're saying the new condo owners ("newcomers", etc) will hire their own private mercenary security force that will oppress their pre-gentrification neighbours?
If only it were that easy.
Columbia Heights has crime because gentrification hasn't yet pushed more than a few blocks away from the centre. Once it does, crime there will drop to Logan Circle/U St levels; present, but tolerable, rather than its current overt-gang-war quantities.
Luckily for the condo owners, even with the credit collapse, gentrification will march onward. People want to live in urban areas, and lots of people want to live in the DC area. Housing must be found, and LeDroit Park etc have the cheapest real estate around until you get out to Germantown or Loudon Country.
Needs must.
Urk, again with the replies being associated with the wrong comment!
That's exactly my point though. There's a lot of people in the area that cause no trouble. The newer wave of renters and owners aren't going to hire a security force (er...or maybe Blackwater is still looking for contracts?), but they will speak with their wallets. The city has a stake because, at least AFAIK, a good deal of the people in the vicinity of Columbia Rd/14th are on public assistance. I get the feeling in CH that it isn't full of rabid development types and that people don't have a problem with it being a mixed income area. But if the city ignores the violence, then only money will talk and the people who aren't causing problems are going to be thrown out with the bathwater. I don't think that's what everyone wants as of right now though.
I'm new and there's a lot of history/information I'm not privy to - I'm not claiming any authority on the situation. Rather, I'm just pushing the conversation this way because I'm curious what the real story is.
Rest assured, the city is dong a lot. First, when those gentlemen registered their guns, as i am sure they did, they had to submit them to ballistics testing, so I am sure it will be no problem to catch them. Boy will they be surprised.
Second, Chances are the arguement was over a Jumbo Slice. Rest assured, councilman Jim Graham is making sure that no such arguements happen in the future!!
Go DC!!!
The real story in a nutshell: all the dealers who got arrested in the 1990s are up for parole and coming back to their old neighborhoods where they find the youngsters who got left behind aren't interested in competition. And in all those years they've been in jail, the city has done nothing to prevent the next generation of criminal from following in their father's footsteps.
Your best bet is to pool your money and hire a rival gang to wipe out the competition. They're not interested in shooting you. They only kill their own. Narcotics trade consolidation is your best protection value.
Dammit Pigman! Where are you? We need you now! That whole area has been a shooting gallery. Last week, a man was killed a few feet from an officer. A robbery in broad daylight? No, just another shooting. Time for me to consume some fine grade depleted radioactive materials in order to gain their super powers. Damn you cancer.
I'm amazed at the cynical comments. "Sucks for those who got shot though" - um, yeah. It does "suck" for them, and their loved ones, and their community. I guess people build up a tolerance/resistance to getting freaked out at this level of violence, but I'm not there yet.
Agreed. Though some people do eventually develop a tolerance for getting shot...eventually they just stop breathing.
Getting shot is kind of like a prostate exam. The first time you are all "Holy Crap!!." After a couple of times you are like, "yeah, whatever."
well, i feel bad for the bystander. not the targeted one though. most of these shootings aren't really random -- they're targeted. i'm pissed at the shooters, and i'm pissed at the little gangbangers who make themselves targets. now some other dipshit is going to come after this shooter, and who knows which decent person he'll accidentally hit in the process.
Really? Do you have any idea what the fight was about? What if some thug bumps into you while walking by you in the metro, and you say "excuse you, buddy," and he turns around and starts getting in your face, and next thing you know he's pulled a gun on you. And then, while you are in the hospital for a week recovering from the gunshot wound in your leg, you read some dipshit on DCist saying "i have absolutely no sympathy for the targeted one."
You have absolutely no idea what happened.
of course, an outlandishly farfetched scenario could have occurred. i don't know what happened for sure. but it's not realistic to say that i have absolutely no idea what happened. we all have some idea of what happened. i'm just betting that this probably isn't some major outlier that doesn't fit the pattern of almost every other street shooting in DC.
but sure, it probably could have been some japanese tourists, arguing over the LHC, when they were surprised by somebody dressed as a zombie because he was confused about the date of this year's zombie lurch, which caused them to scream something in japanese that sounded almost like "bitch fag" in english, which pissed off the methed-out tranny sitting across from them and made her start yelling, which caused the ball to fall, which made the man to dive into the bucket, which made the cage fall down, which captured the mice, which was the last straw for the tranny who evidently was packing more heat under her dress than anyone expected -- and she ended up shooting the japanese tourist and the bystander zombie.
OR MAYBE IT WAS ANOTHER GANG SHOOTING.
Way to jump to conclusions. Read the new story up now.
sorry, i just can't help but point out that (according to jim graham) this was indeed gang related.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/columbia_heights/message/30181
it's not so much "jumping to conclusions" as it is just being a reasonable person aware of the reality of the situation in DC.
Could have had a nice view of the shooting from this $649,900 one bedroom condo.
That is, if you hadn't been knocked out by a flying brick on the walk home.
Ha! One bedroom and 2 bathrooms. What's up with that?
I think I'll let monkey field that one...
In DC's arcane tax code, if you have a second bathroom, you can deduct it as a religious donation. It's called the "excremeditation allowance."
Don't eat where you shit.
That exit out of the Columbia Heights Metro is unavoidable. People will come and go. Looks like we need to put one of those mini-police stations to spruce it up a bit.
ah, that's the sound of school's out for summer, gangster style. Lock your cars and set your alarms on stun unless you wish to wake up wondering where you parked your car. I remember seeing somebody else's stolen car left across the street like it was yesterday. Clear blue sky, all the doors open, trunk exposed, broken steering column, spare and jack on the hot, dry pavement. The cops must have driven by it twice while I was looking at it. Had to make them stop their car on the third pass. Makes me glad I drive a standard pos pickup with a two tone sun faded paint job.
after living in the DC metro area (and specifically CH for the past 6 years) I've grown accustomed to the crime. I'm not saying I like it, it's just that the cops don't do ANYTHING to stop. It for heaven's sake it can happen just meters from where they are posted and they don't notice a problem or deter individuals from engaging in crime.
At least in NYC when an area become newly gentrified the cops (and actual law enforcement) soon follow.
My experience (living in Mt Pleasant for over 5 years) is a little different. Just the other week I saw some teenagers start to get into a fight on a street near where I live. Literally seconds later three police came down the road on bikes following the teens. Either the MPD were scouting out the area minutes earlier or they were in the right place at the right time, but they certainly weren't ignoring a potential crime from meters away.
The fact that there are over 30 law enforcement agencies who all patrol Columbia Heights (and D.C. proper) yet crime continues unabated. Transit Police, Metro Police, Park Police, Secret Service, Zoo Police, DC Housing Police....this is such insanity! Oh, that's right....most are fighting over who gets the lucrative Target detail or who gets to be in the motorcade. what a waste.
Someone please tell me...please...how a city with so much patrol-centric law enforcement can continue to have so much crime? I also would like to know if anyone else gives a shit about the open air drug market on the corner of Columbia and Harvard? If you pay close attention, all of the loitering illegals have a pretty ridiculous system developed. They got spotters lined up along Columbia from Rat Park all the way down to the Safeway. As soon as a bike cop or a segway cop pass bye, watch what they do. they're masters.
sigh. love this town
The fight starts with 2 punks on the train. They rush out, firing their guns like gangbusters,hitting an innocent bystander and in broad daylight. I blame the Western Channel.
I'm sure there's a JUMBO SLICE PIZZA involved in this hot mess.
I think it's pretty clear that when greasy food is available willy-nilly to the general public, people are going to get hurt. As we used to say when I was growing up in Shirlington, "Pies or fries, somebody dies." I hope Councilman Graham will do the right thing and impose a really high restaurant tax. Like, really high. We're talking in the neighborhood of 10%.
Channel 4 was live outside the Metro just minutes ago. They mentioned that Council Member Jim Graham was on the scene, and sure enough, there in the background, was that dipshit's yellow Beetle, parked illegally and blocking traffic.
Does anyone else find it suspicious that whenever there's a gang-related shooting or random slaying, Jim Graham is always on the scene? Now, I'm not saying that he's in any way related to the escalating violence in DC or the city's inability to deal with it, or even that his car is a perpetual traffic hazard....
I'm sorry. I don't know how to end that sentence.
Isn't Columbia Heights in Trinidad?
Check out some pictures and an account on the shooting at: wordsofwitte.wordpress.com
Check out an account of the shooting with photos:
wordsofwitte.wordpress.com
its a horrible thing. an argument that results in violence. a shooting. a daytime shooting. an innocent victim shot. its fucked up, sad, and scary.
i realize most of the readers are able to reply with sarcasm. i can't. i'm concerned and saddened by this.
i wish i had solutions.
Stop the welfare payments and they'll head out to the suburbs, the future ghetto.
I'm sick and tired of people pigeonholing and generalizing about the youth of DC. It sucks that there's a pervasive culture of broken homes and a cyclical lack of opportunity, but there are many, many, many students of mine who are coming out from under this environment and are learning to stand up and repudiate the way their classmates resolve conflicts.