On the afternoon of Saturday, February 1st, a car drove past the Petworth playground at 8th and Taylor Streets NW, shots rang out from the car, children and parents dove for cover under slides, and a young man was shot in the foot. He’s not talking to MPD about what happened.

In the early evening of Thursday, February 13th, MPD was involved in a shootout with a suspect in an alley off of 7th and Upshur / Varnum. At least six shots rang out, residents walking home dove for cover, a mother on the block at home with her two daughters hid in the basement. An officer was injured, and after a pursuit with police, a man was gravely shot.

Bookends of violence in the same area.

At a bar in the area, someone said all these shootings are because we didn’t get any snow. It wasn’t cold enough to curb the events that might have led to the beefs that led to the violence.

What does it take to stop it?

Will more government dollars toward policing? Intervention strategies? Will a community meeting suffice?

After the shooting on Saturday, the community met with leaders from various involved DC government agencies: MPD Fourth District Commander Randy Griffin, John Stokes of the Department of General Services (DGS), Tommie Jones of the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR), a few ANC 4C Commissioners, and Ward 4 Councilmember Brandon Todd. The goal was to talk about making the playground safe. Making residents worry less.

“We can build a 2 million dollar playground, but if it’s not a place you can feel safe, that’s not a place we want to be,” said Todd.

Residents meeting with DC agencies at the Petworth Recreation Center

There were resident questions about spending less money on slides and more on police officers. There was a resident comment about how heat differentials and particulate matter impact violent crime. There were comment after comment about drug deals in the park, in the alley, in broad daylight. On MPD officers who don’t interact with the community, don’t get out of their patrol cars.

Mainly, there was fear and frustration.

DGS committed to having their own uniformed, unarmed security officers, the Protective Services Division (PSD), show up at the Petworth Rec Center twice a day — once in the afternoon, once in the evening. They’ll try to connect with the people they find there, shoo away those smoking pot, dealing drugs… or will call police if they have to.

DPR has committed to having their Roving Leaders involved in the playground — two men who know the neighborhood, visit local schools and try to build relationships. DPR said they’re trying to create a dedicated teen space, and to offer more activities for teens, like video game tournaments, ping pong and foosball. A resident correctly pointed out that people can’t be afraid of teens just hanging out at the park, “Teenagers aren’t loitering because they’re at a playground. We need to be respectful of these kids, because they are our children.”

The Petworth Recreation Center at night.

Commander Griffin said MPD will have more scout cars driving in the neighborhood near the park. People asked how they can advocate for more resources for MPD, more officers on the streets, getting out of cars and meeting residents. Griffin said MPD is stable at 3,800 officers, but calls for service are higher than ever before, so officers can’t get out of their cars. Scout cars have to be able to respond as quickly as possible to calls for service and “shouldn’t be stationed anywhere.”

Griffin said violent crime wasn’t going up in the neighborhood, that it was “dead on where it was last year.” He said property crime was on the rise (theft from auto and package theft). He said they’re constantly arresting people for package theft, mainly due to the images from security cameras residents give them.

Councilmember Todd said he’ll find the funding for these changes, as well as programs at the Center. He’s convened a Task Force to help study how best to create better public safety. He’s looking to get violence interrupters in the neighborhood, courtesy of the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (ONSE). He talked about employment opportunities through the Department of Employment Services (DOES).

There are similar issues occuring at Raymond Recreation Center, but they weren’t discussed. That DPR site needs increased security patrols from DGS and greater attention from DPR. No word if that’s on the list of things to do.

MPD showing up minutes after gunfire rings out in an alley between Varnum and Upshur Streets NW

This week closed out with an officer-involved shooting only a block away from Saturday’s incident. Read MPD’s official release on the incident.

An argument in an alley between 7th and New Hampshire, between Upshur and Varnum, led to a series of gunshots, with 911 calls going out. MPD responded within three minutes, according to witnesses, and while on scene, the original shooter (Identified by MPD as 36-year old Douglas Maiden) came out of a garage in the alley, surprised to see the police, and surprising the police in return. MPD and the suspect exchange gunfire in the alley, and then he ran through his house, onto 7th Street, up someone’s front steps and into the next alley.

MPD confronted him there, witnesses report, with MPD yelling instructions, when gunfire broke out again and the suspect was shot by MPD. An officer was reportedly grazed by a bullet (unclear if during the first exchange or second gunfire exchange.) Both the suspect and the officer were taken to the hospital, the suspect critically wounded.

MPD closed down multiple blocks well into the early hours of Friday as they collected evidence.

The suspect, Maiden, was known to this writer (and who used to walk around the neighborhood with a snake wrapped around his neck), has a history of problems in the neighborhood, problems with crime, selling and doing drugs. It’s not known if this shooting was related to Saturday’s at the park.

Will Roving Leaders help mitigate this issue from happening? Will ONSE? How will DC spend its resources to help all of its residents, especially those who don’t have avenues to move away from crime as a solution?

How does this community meeting, this end-of-week shooting, differ from the ones last year, the year before? The shootings on 4th and Taylor? The robbery at 9th and Shepherd, 13th and Quincy?

Lots of questions.

More info to come, I’m sure. Not necessarily answers, but more to come.

Edit: This article was updated to reflect the shooting at Petworth playground was Saturday, February 1st, not the 8th.