Check out this string of robberies listed in the Northwest D.C. portion of today’s WaPo crime report:

GIRARD ST.,1100 block, 2:24 p.m. July 15. A male approached a pedestrian from behind, snatched her purse and fled.

IRVING ST.,1300 block, 2:02 p.m. July 15. A male approached a pedestrian from behind and snatched her purse, which contained a Global Positioning System device, a cellphone and a camera.

IRVING ST.,1300 block, 3:29 p.m. July 14. A man asked a female motorist for directions, then grabbed her purse. When he found no money in the purse, the man returned it to her and fled.

IRVING ST.,1400 block, 9:45 a.m. July 12. A male attacked a pedestrian and tried to take property. After a struggle, the assailant fled empty-handed. A 17-year-old was arrested.

That’s a lot of daytime street crime activity for one neighborhood. Those last two purse snatchings took place within 20 minutes of each other, in broad daylight, on a Tuesday. Muggings are hardly shocking crimes in D.C., sadly, but this still seems pretty out of proportion. That one of the suspects returned the purse after realizing his victim didn’t have any money is sort of weirdly reassuring in a way, though. OK, not really. What’s up with purse snatchers running around in the middle of the day?

Photo by FloydSlip

UPDATE: Elevated from the comments:

This is the kindest, gentlest list of crimes I’ve ever seen in Columbia Heights. It reminds of the bygone days when someone would grab a purse from an old lady, who might shame him with a smack of her umbrella. I’ve got tears in my eyes; it’s practically Mayberry around here! -jamie

Touché, jamie. Brutal truth.