Montgomery County authorities are currently investigating the scene of what appears to be a grisly murder-suicide in Rockville. more ›

The 39-year-old McLean resident who was struck by a train at the Clarendon station on October 11 has now died, Metro officials have confirmed. more ›

UPDATE (2:55 p.m.): The statistic regarding student suicide was so startling, we inquired with DCPS for further context. more ›

D.C. police are classifying the death of a woman who fell from the rooftop of the W Hotel last night as a suicide. more ›

UPDATE (1:43 p.m.): The Washington Post, who previously reported that the woman had died, has retracted that report and is now saying she has "serious...non-life threatening injuries." The northwestern portion of the Red Line is a bit of a mess this morning, after a woman intentionally placed herself on the tracks and was struck by a train around 7:49 a.m. more ›

A man died yesterday after being struck by a Metrorail train on the tracks at the Minnesota Avenue station. Initially, the man was not believed to have suffered life-threatening injuries. Police are continuing to investigate the incident, and no service disruptions as a result of the incident were reported on the Orange Line yesterday -- the man was struck minutes before the system shut down for the night. Bigger picture: if police rule the death as a suicide, it would be the 16th suicide on Metrorail in less than 18 months. Might be time to pick up the pace on that much-delayed suicide prevention program, WMATA. more ›

At around 1:15 p.m. today, a man was struck and killed by a six-car Orange Line train at the Dunn Loring Metro station. A preliminary police report suggests the death was a suicide. There is no further information at this time about the man. The Dunn Loring station remains closed this afternoon, and trains are single tracking between the Vienna and West Falls Church stations; further, Metro is providing shuttles from both the Vienna and West Falls Church stations to Dunn Loring. Metro advises Orange Line riders to expect delays this evening. more ›

Absorbing but unsettling. That's what kind of experience you get while spending roughly an hour inside the realm of the suicide chat room, where those considering hari kari discuss methodology and motivation, and even find a certain kind of support. But I'm not talking about going online and wading through the forums; Taffety Punk Theater Company is bringing the experience to you. With interpretive dance. more ›

Two Prince William County teens who were found dead in a Triangle, Va. home on Monday died as the result of a suicide pact, the Post is reporting. Police say they may never know what prompted to Desiree Patrick, 17, and Quirinius Williams, 18, to kill themselves together, but these comments from Williams' stepfather, Ruben Aguilar, are fairly haunting:

Aguilar said he had never met Patrick but had received a phone call from her father about a year ago about the relationship. After that conversation, Aguilar said, "we made sure to tell them to stay away from each other." From all appearances, Williams complied. more ›

A man was struck by a Yellow Line train at the Columbia Heights station at around 2 p.m. this afternoon, Metro officials have confirmed. Preliminary reports indicate this appears to be another suicide attempt, making this the ninth such attempt this year on the D.C. Metro system. Trains are currently stopped while rescue workers attempt to reach the man, who is under the train. More soon. UPDATE 2:27: Reader Matthew writes in to say that while traveling between Fort Totten and U Street stations just after the incident, a crowd of people got on at Columbia Heights and some of them said that they had witnessed a man jump in front of the Yellow Line train. D.C. Fire/EMS confirms rescue and treatment attempts are still ongoing, so no word yet on the man's condition. 2:39 p.m.The Columbia Heights station is now closed, according to Metro. Green Line trains are single-tracking between Georgia Ave. and U St./Cardozo, but for now they are not stopping at Columbia Heights. 3 p.m. Columbia Heights station has reopened, but trains continue to share the same track. 3:10 p.m.D.C. Fire/EMS spokesperson Pete Piringer said the person struck was a teenage male. He was removed from under the train by firefighters, treated by paramedics and transported to a local hospital with serious and life threatening injuries. 3:40 p.m. Metro is saying the teen was "fatally struck," which is the first we've heard that he died from his injuries. Columbia Heights station is now open, but Green Line trains are single tracking between Georgia Ave-Petworth and Shaw. more ›

The Red Line is a total mess this morning after a man died after being struck by a train at the Gallery Place-Chinatown station around 8 a.m. this morning. Metro reports that the man placed himself on the tracks intentionally. There is no Red Line service moving through bothe Gallery Place and Metro Center -- Metro is operating shuttle buses between Farragut North and Judiciary Square while police conduct an investigation. Service on other lines at Metro Center and Gallery Place has not been affected. While Sunday is usually the slowest day of the week for Metro, today was already chock full of delays for track maintenance -- those of you taking the Red Line anywhere this morning would be wise to factor in quite a bit of extra time to get to your destination. UPDATE: As of 11:11 a.m., Metro reports that regular Red Line service has been restored to both stations. more ›

Metro says that Orange Line service in the area around the West Falls Church-VT/UVA station has returned to normal. At 11:18 a.m. this morning, a man was killed in an apparent suicide by a six-car Orange Line train heading in the direction of New Carrollton. Trains were single tracking through the station until approximately 2 p.m., but WMATA says the incident has now been cleared. more ›

The Washington Post has their lengthy report up on the evidence released by the FBI this afternoon against Bruce Ivins, the bioweapons researcher who killed himself last week after he had become the government's main suspect in the 2001 anthrax attacks. more ›

More on the recent life of anthrax investigation target Bruce Ivins from the New York Times: "Maryland court documents show he had been under psychiatric treatment and had been served with a restraining order directing him to stay away from a woman he was accused of stalking and threatening." The L.A. Times report also mentioned that he had recently been removed from his workplace and stripped of his security clearance due to threats of suicide. more ›

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that a scientist who helped the FBI investigate the 2001 anthrax attacks has committed suicide in Maryland, soon after learning he was about to be charged with the very attacks he had been helping to investigate. more ›

Back in February we were alarmed by reports of a man in Prince George's County who was using Craigslist to lure rape victims to various locations in the county. The Post reports that the man suspected of committing these crimes killed himself during a standoff with police yesterday. The suspect, Mark Antonio Humphries, 33, of the 4100 block of Suitland Road of Suitland, shot himself in the head after police began setting up a barricade outside a Hyattsville apartment where they believed he was hiding. He was pronounced dead later at a nearby hospital. more ›

The local Tampa Bay FOX affiliate, FOX13, is reporting that Deborah Jeane Palfrey, known in the media as the D.C. Madam who was last month convicted of money laundering, using the mail for illegal purposes and racketeering, has been found dead in Tarpon Springs, FL, of an apparent suicide. more ›

>> Detroit garage rockers Gore Gore Girls are at DC9 with two local acts: the Highballers and the Droptops. 9 p.m., $10. >> Don't miss our full preview of the Stones Throw concert tonight at Black Cat. 8 p.m., $20. >> Looking to crash one of those well-monied D.C. holiday parties for free food and drinks? Via BrightestYoungThings, a handy list. >> Thievery Corporation's Rob Garza's latest side-project, Dust Galaxy, will be at the musician's... more ›

Good morning, Washington. It's news of the weird day today on DCist, as the Post tells the bizarre story of two 2nd-year engineering students from U-Va. who have been charged with the kidnapping of a man in Tysons Corner and demanding $500,000 in ransom. Both the two kidnappers and the victim are Chinese nationals who had been living with host families in Virginia while attending college. Police arrested Guanyu Lu and Baichuan Shu, both 19,... more ›

Happy Day-After-Thanksgiving, D.C. Normally we like to get you your headlines in the a.m., so we hope you'll forgive us for rounding up the news later in the day today -- we needed to spend the morning rolling our much fatter selves out of bed and calling our doctors for a new Lipitor prescription. What do you mean, it isn't necessarily a good idea to put gravy on pumpkin pie? Breaking News: People are Shopping!:... more ›

When posters appeared on the GW campus early last month bearing the message, "Hate Muslims? So Do We!", some people laughed, others got offended, and the university got a ton of media coverage unrelated to its exorbitant tuition. Today the GW Hatchet reports that the students responsible for the posters have each received a $25 fine and probation. As you all may recall, the posters were part of a campaign to mock Islamo-Facism Awareness Week,... more ›

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2007 Recap from Super!Alright! on Vimeo. Austinist attended a town hall meeting about proposed noise ordinances that could undermine the city's future as the Live Music Capital of the World, and lamented the possible loss of Texas's only feminist bookstore. Throughout the week, they interviewed a bunch of indie fashion designers and D-I-Y websites—Etsy, Ornamental Things, 31 Corn Lane, and Aorta Designs—for the upcoming Stitch Fashion Show. They also did... more ›

Jake Gyllenhaal was frequently quoted this week when, in an interview, he declared that he "Hates preachy message films." No one's going to think twice about something like that coming from Dwane "The Rock" Johnson, but from someone doing press junkets for a film raising awareness about a U.S. government practice it clearly finds abominable, it's bound to elicit a ringing chorus of, "Say What?!?!?". Rendition is a movie so focused on its message that... more ›

Take a look at the poster on the right. Does it strike you as patently offensive, or does the preponderance of exclamation points tell you it's certainly satire? That's what students at George Washington University are arguing about today, as the posters, hung up around campus overnight, have caused quite an uproar. The GW Hatchet has the story, which has since been picked up by the AP and the Post. The posters falsely advertise "Islamo-Fascism... more ›

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Indie: Sunshine A group of astronauts are on a suicide mission to save a dying Sun, lest the earth perish as well. While it may sound like a plot suitable for Michael Bay's Armageddon 2: Bigger and Hotter, in the hands of director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) and his 28 Days Later screenwriter, Alex Garland, it may... more ›

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too – two of them in -Ist cities. Sampaist was shocked when a passenger jet crashed into the center of Sao Paulo, killing at least 200 people. The airplane, an Airbus A320, skidded off the runway at the... more ›

Recess of a Journey #4, 12 inches by 10 inches, mixed media, 2005" src="http://dcist.com/attachments/John James Anderson/2007_0717_RahmanRecess.jpg" width="209" height="300" class="left"/> The most recent show at the Ellipse Arts Center in Arlington, titled Transform/Nation: Contemporary Art of Iran and Its Diaspora, explores the themes of identity, tradition, stereotype, and society that Iranian artists confront within their works. It is a show that is not about to divorce the work on the wall with the history of Iran;... more ›

Welcome back to work, Washington. We know many of our regular readers are off celebrating Independence Day already, taking vacation time for a few days to make this upcoming middle-of-the-week holiday less of an inconvenience. For those of you still at your desks, we salute your dedication to the American work ethic. For those of you who'll be heading to the airport some time this week, we were going to beg to be stuffed in... more ›

On Friday, Deborah Jeane Palfrey made her much-hyped prime time television debut on 20/20, chatting with Brian Ross about her D.C. escort business but saying her "gals" didn't engage in illegal activities. Ross was a bit incredulous that she actually believed no sex was taking place, but Palfrey quickly confirmed that said face was indeed straight, pointing to a contract her escorts signed saying they would be fired if any criminal activity took place. While... more ›

You've read about The Vita Ruins on DCist before. You may have even seen them perform at our 4th Unbuckled concert. When all that buzz was going on about the band, they'd only had a few (literally -- Unbuckled was their third show) performances under their belt. Since then they've built up a reputation that's allowed them quite a bit of luck in booking shows and getting people talking. But the Virginia natives are... more ›