WASHINGTON – At every murder scene she visits now, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier faces the same question.
What’s behind the spike in killings this year?
This summer, that question is being asked more frequently, and the answer is complex.
“Each time we stand here it’s a different situation,” Lanier said in announcing the District’s 99th homicide of the year.
That killing, capping a particularly violent summer week, was family related, police believe.
“The motives of what’s happening in the past several weeks are varied,” she says. “But one of the common things that we are seeing: too many guns in too many homes.”
Speaking near the scene of a different murder on Wednesday, Lanier listed off some of those varied motivations for recent shootings.
“Somebody throwing rocks at somebody else, to somebody losing a craps game, to somebody wanting to take somebody else’s winnings, to a baby crying,” she says.
Council member Kenyan McDuffie, Ward 5, suggested additional officers alone may not be sufficient in preventing a rise in gun crimes.
McDuffie chairs the committee that oversees public safety. He also represents the ward where the last murder took place.
“Most people know that homicides are a byproduct of larger and deeper challenges happening in those neighborhoods,” he says.
