The crime situation in Washington, D.C., is so dire that residents are afraid to walk anywhere, opting instead to drive short distances, and are nervous to go out after dark, fearing they will be violently attacked on the city’s streets.
In interviews with the Washington Post, a handful of residents detailed the precautions they have started to take to avoid falling victim to the city’s growing violent crime problem, where murders are up almost 30 percent, and robberies have jumped nearly 70 percent since last year.
“It’s so ridiculous,” 44-year-old Stephanie Heishman, a D.C. resident, told the Post about what she must do to avoid crime. “On the other hand, I don’t want to randomly get shot.”
Heishman said she has started driving short distances rather than walking. She said she made the decision after there was a gunfight outside her apartment building in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of D.C.
Likewise, three men were murdered on her block in August.
Another D.C. local named James, 58 years old, said he and his husband moved to Maryland after they were violently attacked alongside another couple in 2019 by a group of young people near Dupont Circle. More recently, James said he had a bottle thrown at his head while walking to Whole Foods.
Ronald Moten, a 53-year-old D.C. resident, told the Post he avoids going to the nearby gas station at night for fear of being robbed by criminals in the Hillcrest neighborhood.
Twenty-eight-year-old Nora Fanfalone said she now uses the service entrance to her apartment so she is not attacked on her way inside her building or a witness to a shooting.
So far this year, there have been close to 4,000 violent crime incidents reported in D.C. — a nearly 40 percent increase compared to 2022. Overall, crime is up almost 30 percent.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
