Photo Courtesy of Matt Hoying
On the evening of Thursday July 8th, my usually quiet block of 10th Street NE (between Constitution and C) was the site of a very out-of-character-for-the-block police raid.
Several police cars, the SWAT van, EMS equipment and a police helicopter were deployed to serve a warrant at 216 10th Street NE. A friend at 15th and C NE texted me to say that loads of police and EMS vehicles had just sped past her house and were headed my way, and did I see anything. When I looked out my window, I saw my street being shut down and dozens of MPD officers and SWAT taking over the block. And then I heard what I thought was a gunshot, which several of my neighbors thought was an explosion. I’m way too nosy for my own good, so instead of staying safely inside, I ran outside and asked one of the officers posted outside of my house what was going on. I was sternly instructed to go back inside.
Fifteen minutes later, I was antsy not knowing what was happening and leashed up Ramona, my trusty canine sidekick, to wander up the block. (Don’t try this at home, kids – I really should have stayed inside.) I met several of my neighbors while using my pup as an excuse to get more info on the scene unfolding in the unassuming blue and white row house that always used to remind me of Santorini, due to its color scheme.
Having gotten no information, I posted up on my patio and waited for a chance to talk to an officer. When that chance came, I learned that they were executing a warrant for a suspect in shooting an MPD officer in PSA 6-D, across the river. The suspect’s car was abandoned at the scene of the shooting and they were able to trace the suspect to 216 10th Street. The suspect was not home when SWAT raided the residence – the “explosion” or “gun shot” we thought we heard was actually a flashbang, but they were able to recover evidence implicating the suspect in the shooting.
I learned from Commander David Kamperin that the suspect was apprehended in PSA 6-D the next day.
Wow, exciting night. You’re right, walking the dog is such a good reporting trick. You can go anywhere and just walk up to people and you don’t need an excuse.
That’s the same block where Little Man James lived with his terrified grandmother before they finally locked him up in 1992 just after his birthday when he was no longer a juvenile. By then he had shot a few people, including Patricia Lexie, who was riding with her husband in a car on Kenilworth Avenue. He killed her because he felt like it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/articles/the_conviction_of_little_man.html
He successfully evaded arrest for days, even calling the police to taunt them. There were daily stories in the Post, including the requisite tales from the mothers of his children about what a good person/father he was because he bought the babies things. No doubt with the proceeds from his very successful drug sales.
Since he has been incarcerated, he has killed people in jail.
He terrorized this neighborhood 20 years ago and I personally hope he never gets out.
I can’t believe some has not yelled at you for asking busy police officers what was going on mid going on. That’s the first thing people do on the MPD list. 🙂
I’m always glad when MPD catches the bad guy… the tricky part is keeping them behind bars, or so I hear.
hahahaha
Well, that’s because I didn’t! I wandered up and down the street (across from the house being raided) asking neighbors, and then waited until things simmered down and asked a very nice K9 officer (whose dog Ramona tried to engage in shenanigans) and another equally nice CSI guy. I didn’t get in the way of the officers doing their jobs – nearly 36 years as the daughter of a cop taught me to know better than that!
Ha…I would have loved to see Ramona “engaging” a nice K-9 German shepherd.
I would have asked for a demonstration of a flashbang in the intersection. We probably had bigger fireworks on the 4th anyway.
I wouldn’t count on the dog trick, necessarily. I once was woken up late at night by blue lights flashing in my window. After 20 minutes of this I decided to take the dog out and see what the police believed was worth waking up the neighborhood for. It looked like a routine traffic stop, and the dog and I continued on our normal walk.
Shortly after I set out a second police car was dispatched to question me– not a big deal, but it did shake me up a little!
I should add that this was in Fairfax County, where the police are more likely to do such things.
The house on the NW corner of 10 and C was owned by a miserable slumlord who rented to “Pops” who ran gambling and liquor out of the basement which would sometimes result in fights in the streets, one of which was broken up by a neighbor wielding a sawed off shot gun..he’s now doing time for murdering a merchant on H. As the kids that were fathered by the occupants got older, they grew bored with the gambling and booze and started selling drugs and that brought all sorts of scumbags out of the wood work. One of those teens called himself “Stink” and was relatively harmless until he murdered a young Congressional aid on 11th. He’s still in jail, last I heard. The house sold and was rehabed where 5 gallon buckets of urine were found as well as stacks as high as the furniture of empty prescription bottles. Not sorry to see that house sold.