WASHINGTON — The Metropolitan Police Department (DC Police) reported three robberies in the overnight hours of Monday night and into Tuesday morning. Police are dealing with an uptick of robberies recently, including 16 reported on Saturday.
On Monday night, police reported an armed robbery that happened just before 9:30 p.m. It was in the 3500 block of East Capitol St NE, police said in a tweet. Officers say residents should be on the lookout for a slim man, Black, about 5 feet 10 inches tall and wearing a yellow and orange hooded sweatshirt.
Police say if you see someone that matches that description, do not approach the man and call 911 immediately.
At around 1 a.m. Tuesday, D.C. Police warned people in the 3800 block of Georgia Ave, NW of a robbery investigation there. The suspect in that robbery was described as a man, Black, with a thin build. He was wearing black baseball cap and dark clothing, and was last seen leaving the area south on Georgia Ave., NW.
Around the same time, D.C. police received a call of a robbery in Southeast. Police say that it happened in the 5000 block of Southern Ave., SE, and residents should be on the lookout for a Black woman in a red hat who's about 5 feet 2 inches tall and heavyset. She was last seen in a black Toyota sedan bearing unknown MD tags, according to a tweet from the police department.
These new robberies are in addition to a string of robberies reported over the weekend, including 16 reported on Saturday. According to D.C. Police data, 16 robberies is the highest number of robberies in one day reported by the department in the last 30 days.
ANC Commissioner and Black Lives Matter DC core organizer Anthony Lorenzo Green told WUSA9 those numbers are concerning, and he believes it’s a direct correlation to the pandemic.
“We were already struggling before this pandemic with a lot of the issues that were affecting our community. All this does is put an extremely close spotlight on the disparities in our community, how folks believe that the only way they can survive is if they can take from others or break into a store or someone's car,” Green said. “No one wants crime or violence or someone to take from you or your home, but we have to address it by understanding why people are doing this in the first place. We only had one $1,200 check in pandemic relief to residents in this city and across this country.”
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