WASHINGTON — A DC man said he was robbed at gunpoint near his home twice in three months as robberies overall rise in the District.
The neighbor asked WUSA9 not to share his name to help protect his identity.
Just last week, this neighbor said he was waiting for an Uber with his friend outside of his home on the 1200 block of 4th Street NW.
Just as their ride was arriving, surveillance footage shows two guys approaching them — one in front, one behind.
"They both have guns. And they say, give me your wallet. Give me your phone," he said. "My friend gave up his wallet. I threw my wallet, like past them, so they'd have to go get it and put a little distance between us. And then they came back over and wanted my phone but decided to leave after that."
He said neither of them was physically hurt, but they're both shaken up.
The first incident happened in January 2022, a couple of blocks from his home.
In that instance, he said one of the attackers pistol-whipped him.
"I felt very helpless . . . How do you recover from that? Do I have to think about moving? Do I have to think about changing my life? Because of this kind of incident?" he said.
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He said he doesn't want to move and doesn't plan to do so.
However, robberies overall are on the rise in D.C. this year.
Police data shows that they're up 44% from the same time last year, hitting 542 cases as of Tuesday, just a quarter of the way into the year.
This man's neighborhood has seen a few more reports in 2022, too, according to crime data.
“I used to think that, oh, violent crime is isolated. It's only against, you know, people who are doing violent things," he said. "And no, it really, it’s affecting innocent people all over the city. And I don't think our political leaders have really understood that or tried to fix it.”
That's why he wanted to share this surveillance footage, to urge leaders to take more action as he hopes he doesn't have a third incident to report down the road.
WUSA9 reached out to Mayor Bowser's office for comment and did not hear back in time for air.
Looking at the data, homicides are also up from the same time last year, and violent crimes overall have increased by 21%.
Last month, the city announced the Homicide Reduction Partnership to target areas that saw the most homicides last year, modeling the city's summer crime initiative.
The Mayor said areas targeted by the annual program did see a reduction in crime.