Gunshot victim breaks into Petworth resident's locked basement
/Add this one to the "weird but true" file.
After the sounds of four to five gunshots one late night last week, a homeowner on Crittenden street was startled when there was a crashing sound from the back of his house, and a stranger burst into the house suffering from gunshot wounds.
"A man, suffering from gunshot wounds, burst into our house at around 1:30am," the resident said. "Thankfully, a friend and I were still awake. I managed to get between the man and our main staircase to prevent him from running upstairs where my wife and kids were sleeping."
According to the resident, the wounded man went through his back yard gate and kicked in the rear basement door of his house -- a door secured by two locks.
"I managed to subdue the man, who was hurt pretty bad, and the police were on the scene within moments. Needless to say, we are pretty shaken," the resident said.
The resident thinks the gunshots and the victim are related to a house on Crittenden Street with a reputation for being a location for drug dealing and use.
"I did not know him, nor did I see him running from that house. But I am firmly convinced that he is associated with that house," the resident said. "That was instantly the view of the cops when they showed up. There are two crews (gangs) that have been beefing for years in Petworth: one emanating from this house and another up somewhere on Kennedy."
The homeowner is hoping MPD and the city pay more attention to the Crittenden Street home and help to resolve the issues he believes are emanating from it. The shooting victim who broke into the home was taken to the hospital.
A recent DCist article about DC Attorney General Karl Racine discussed how the AG was pursuing "neglectful property owners" in an effort to bring down crime. Ensuring the Office of the Attorney General restarts their initiative of intervening in nuisance properties can help abate this type of ongoing issue with single homes causing neighborhood-wide crime issues. (A similar issue is occuring on Kansas and Quincy Avenue with one house seen by neighbors as directly contributing to area crime.)
Related Article
