Armed Man Dies After Shootout with Police

Police aren't sure if 23-year-old Gregory Thomas was fatally wounded before or during the gun battle with police. From WUSA9:

MPD is investigating a shooting involving two of their officers that left one man dead.

Police tell 9NEWS NOW it all began around 12:30am, when an off duty officer was on his way home and noticed a man firing shots into a courtyard at 17th Street & Benning Road NE.

The off duty officer approached the suspect announced that he was a police officer, and exchanged gunfire.

The suspect then jumped into a green and white vehicle and fled the scene toward a laundromat near 1342 Florida Ave NE.

An on duty officer encountered the suspects as they got back on Benning Road and exchanged gunfire with the suspect while he was trying to flee the scene.

A vehicle matching the description of the suspect vehicle showed up at a firehouse in the 1100 block of Morse Street NE and left a man suffering from gunshots in the driveway then fled. [Frozen Tropics notes that there isn't a fire station on that block, so it must have been the station on Florida Avenue. There's also some confusion over whether the initial intersection was 17th and Benning or 17th and Bladensburg.]

The man was taken to a local hospital were he was pronounced dead a short time later.

D.C. Police chief Cathy Lanier says the two officers involved were not injured.

The man has not been identified and police are looking for the driver of the car who left the man at the firehouse.

If you have any information about this case, please call MPD at 202-727-9099.

More:
» WaPo
» ABC7
» NBC4

Homicide at 1211 18th Street NE

From MPD:

At approximately 10:50 last night, Tuesday, June 19, 2007, police were called to the rear of 1211 18th Street, NE, for the report of the sounds of gunshots. Upon arrival they located 20-year-old William Marquez Aull, of the 1600 block of Trinidad Avenue, NE, suffering from apparent gunshot wounds to the head and upper torso. DC Fire Department emergency medical personnel responded to the scene but found no signs consistent with life. He was taken to the Office of the DC Medical Examiner and pronounced dead.

The case is under investigation by members of the department’s Violent Crimes Branch. Anyone with information about this case is asked to call police at (202) 727-9099.

The department currently offers a reward of up to $25,000 to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for any homicide committed in the District of Columbia.

Brookland & Bloomingdale Neighborhood Clean-Ups, Trinidad Tree Planting - Saturday, April 21st

BLOOMINGDALE
The Bloomingdale Civic Association (BCA) will sponsor a Neighborhood Clean-Up this Saturday, April 21st from 9am to 12pm. A volunteer will distribute trash bags and loan cleaning equipment (rakes, shovels, brooms) from the pocket park at the intersection of First St, NW & Rhode Island Avenue, NW (in front of City Cleaners). Trash pick up locations will be marked by signs at the northeast corners of the unit blocks of:

Adams St. NW
V St. NW
and Thomas Streets, NW above Rhode Island Avenue and the northeast corners of the units blocks of
T St. NW
R St. NW,
and Florida Avenue, NW below Rhode Island Avenue NW.

BCA is seeking volunteers to help with its semi-annual Neighborhood Clean-up this Saturday, April 21st from 9am to 1pm. Timed to coincide with the national celebration of Earth Week, this Neighborhood Clean-up will spruce up our neighborhood in time for the coming good weather. Volunteers do one, two, or all of the followings tasks for their blocks:

· distribute Clean-Up flyers on their blocks,

· rally their neighbors to participate in the clean up

· assure that trash is placed in the correct location for DPW pick-up, and/or

· help schedule the pick up of household hazardous waste products from their blocks.

Any level of volunteer participation will be greatly appreciated. To lend a helping hand please email Cassandra at ACleanerPrettierBloomingdale@hotmail.com.

BCA will also assist by transporting the hazardous household waste to the Carter Barron of residents without automotive transportation. Please email Cassandra at ACleanerPrettierBloomingdale@hotmail.com to schedule a pick up from your home.


BROOKLAND
In conjunction with Catholic University of America students, we will be holding a street cleanup in conjunction with Earth Day, this Saturday from 10am to 12pm. We will join up with CUA students at the corner of Monroe and 12th streets. Gloves and bags will be provided.


TRINIDAD
Celebrate Earth Day by Planting Trees
Saturday, April 21st
9am - 1pm

Joseph H. Cole Recreation Center
1200 Morse Street, NE

We'll be planting around 15 trees at the recreation center on Saturday, so we'll need lots of volunteers.

Sponsored by Trinidad/Ivy City Garden Club in collaboration with Casey Trees.

Contact Trinidad/Ivy City Garden Club (202-398-4779) for more information.

Two-Alarm Fire in Trinidad Leaves Residents Homeless

From NBC4:

Residents of four row house apartments in Northeast are looking for temporary housing following a morning fire.

D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services spokesman Alan Etter said the fire broke out at about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in the 1200 block of Raum Street.

Etter said residents of all four units were home when the fire occurred.

They escaped without any apparent injuries, but a senior woman is being evaluated for medical problems.

At least a dozen people lived in the four apartments that were damaged by the fire. The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.

Additional details and pictures can be seen at dcfire.com.

Suspect Fires Gun in Pants - Shoots Officer and Himself

This would have been so much funnier if the officer hadn't been hit...from WUSA9:

A DC Police officer is recovering from a gunshot wound to the left calf. He was among 3 officers from the 5th District Focus Mission unit who were patrolling the streets in the Trinidad neighborhood in Northeast when they encountered three men drinking in an alleyway off of Penn Avenue [Street?].

Investigators say two men complied with a request to pour their alcohol out but a third man took off and was caught a short time later. As they attempted to arrest him, police say there was a struggle and the suspect fired a gun that was in his waistband, hitting himself in the left thigh and the officer in the left calf.

The unidentified officer is expected to make a full recovery. The suspect underwent surgery Tuesday night. He'll be charged with assaulting a police officer, a far more serious charge than drinking in public.

Trinidad Recreation Center Grand Opening - Saturday, March 17th

What: Mayor Adrian Fenty and DC Parks and Recreation invite you to the Grand Opening of the Trinidad Recreation Center

When: Saturday, March 10th, 2007 at 10am

Where: Trinidad Recreation Center, 1380 Childress Street, NE

Etc.: The reopening follows an extensive, two-year, $6.8 million renovation. The new 21,000 square-foot state-of-the art facility features an indoor gymnasium, multi-purpose room, weight room, arcade/game room, enhanced landscaping, computer room and an arts and crafts room. The outdoor basketball court and tot-lot playground will be completed later in the spring 2007. The grand opening activities will include entertainment, demonstrations and a facility tour.

Missing Person: Tyrell Javar Fields

From MPD:

The Metropolitan Police Department is seeking the public’s assistance in locating a missing person. Tyrell Javar Fields was reportedly last seen leaving his residence located in the 1700 block of Capitol Avenue, NE, at approximately 10pm Wednesday, February 14, 2007.

Tyrell Javar Fields is a 23 year old black male. He is described as being 6’3” tall and weighing approximately 200 pounds with a medium complexion, brown eyes and black hair. He was reportedly last seen wearing gray sweat pants and a shirt of unknown color.

Anyone who has information about Mr. Fields’ whereabouts is asked to call police at (202) 727-9099.

Examiner: Thomas Has a "Balancing Act" Ahead as Ward 5 Council

Harry "Tommy" Thomas, Jr. is standing at the crossroads of a turf war trying to figure out how to stem a week of violent bloodshed in a small Northeast community [Carver Langston]....Thomas will lead Ward 5 during a time in which it is at its own crossroads [hmmm, we clearly have a number of "crossroads" here in Ward 5]. Largely working-class, neighborhoods like Brookland and Trinidad in Ward 5 are now considered "hot" housing markets...."It’s a balancing act," Thomas said. "A lot of things are changing. ... We have to find ways to connect our residents to the economic well being of the rest of the city."

Read the entire article here.

Help Make the Alexander Crummel School Community Center a Reality - Thursday, August 24th

What: The Department of Parks and Recreation Ward 5 Town Hall Meeting. Stand in solidarity with your Ivy City neighbors in getting the historic Crummel School transferred to the jurisdiction of the Department of Parks and Recreation as a multi-purpose recreation center.

When: Thursday, August 24th, 2006, 6:30-8:30pm

Where: North Michigan Park Recreation Center, 1333 Emerson Street, NE

Background: (from Empower DC)
Ivy City Has a Youth Detention Center - We Need a Youth Opportunity Center!

The continued trend and current rise in crime among youth in the District underscores the dire need for more services, employment opportunities and youth development programs.

The Historic Ivy City/Crummell School Revitalization Coalition is a community based organization dedicated to the rebirth of the historic Alexander Crummell school into a multi-use facility that would provide services to youth and largely underserved senior residents of Ivy City, Langston-Carver Terrace, Trinidad, and surrounding neighborhoods.

The renovated school and its two acre grounds must be transformed from a place of blight and decay to one of community uplift and opportunity including job training, tutoring, mentorship, recreation and other needed programs.

Why Crummell School? The Alexander Crummell School is named for abolitionist, educator and clergyman Rev. Doctor Alexander Crummell whose life's mission was the uplift of Black people. The school was built in 1911 to serve African American children from the historic working-class community of Ivy City and neighboring Trinidad. The school served as the civic heart of the community and as a site for recreational programs until around 1980. Since that time the DC government has allowed the building to sit and rot, and depress its surrounding neighborhood. Residents of Ivy City have long been on record asking that their broken heart be repaired, and turned into a multi-use center to serve youth and elders. Now is a critical time to make this vision a reality.

We are asking the City Council to immediately transfer the Crummell School building and its grounds from the office of Property Management and add it to the inventory of the Department of Parks and Recreation for renovation and community use. Help us hold elected officials accountable to caring for the lives of our youth.

Support the Campaign for Crummell School By:

* You or Your Organization/Institution Signing-On as an Endorser

* Participating in on-going Campaign Activities

Partial List of Endorsing Organizations:

Empower DC
Historic Ivy City/Crummell School Revitalization Coalition
Movement for Love and Unity
Bread for the City
Young Women's Drumming Empowerment Project
DC Statehood Green Party
Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless
Sasha Bruce Youthwork, Inc
Youth Leadership Support Network
Save Our Schools
Power Palette
Gray Panthers of Metropolitan Washington
Stand Up! for Democracy in DC
Committee to Save Franklin Shelter
DC Library Renaissance Project
Fix Our Schools
GCH Endowment to Promote Quality Early Childhood Education
Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, DC

Parisa B. Norouzi
Co-Director/Organizer
District of Columbia Grassroots Empowerment Project
(Empower DC)
1419 V St, NW
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 234-9119


More background information at Frozen Tropics, Cultural Tourism DC, and the Ivy City-Trinidad Citizens Association.

Trinidad-Ivy City Garden Club Annual Yard Sale Saturday, July 15th

Frozen Tropics point us to tomorrow's Trinidad-Ivy City Community Garden Club Annual Yard Sale, as well as their blog/site and listserv. Also note Trinidad's website, with Elise's wonderful neighborhood pictures, and the Ivy City-Trinidad Citizens Association website (though I don't know how often this site is updated).

TRINIDAD-IVY CITY GARDEN CLUB

2nd ANNUAL YARD SALE

JULY 15, 2006, 10am – 3pm

1100 Block Montello Ave. NE

All proceeds support the planting projects of the Trinidad Garden Club.

trinidadivycitygardenclub-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
http://ticgardenclub.blogspot.com/

5 People Shot Overnight in DC - 4 of Them in NE

From NBC4:

D.C. police said one person is dead and four others wounded following four shootings that took place in different parts of the city.

About 10:44 p.m. Tuesday, police were called to the 1200 block of Morse Street Northeast, where they found an adult female who had been shot. Police said her injuries were not life-threatening.

Then about 11:30 p.m., police were called to 8th and Xenia streets in Southeast and found an adult male shot. He was taken to a local hospital in critical condition, police said.

Eight minutes later, officers were called to the 1800 block of Lincoln Road Northeast and found an adult male who had been shot. Police said he was also transported to a local hospital in critical condition. Another shooting victim later showed up at the hospital and was linked to Lincoln road, police said.

Finally about 2:10 a.m. Wednesday, police said [23-year-old Michael Dorsey] was shot in the 1900 block of Gallaudet Street in Northeast. Investigators said he was shot in the street and stumbled into a building where he collapsed and died.

The shootings happened just hours after D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey declared a crime emergency in the city, in response to this month's jump in violent crime.

The District is, at this very moment, at 14 homicides for the month of July. Courtland Milloy notes that the recent surge in violent robberies has "[shaken the] sense of security among the affluent and influential....The city is being terrorized - and, as residents of many low-income neighborhoods will tell you, it's been that way for years."

Two Homicides in NE Early This Morning - What We Can Do About It

(photo from www.stieglitz.org)

Police responded to the first shooting, at 1265 Simms Place, NE, just after midnight; 26-year-old Darrius Jerome Dyson was pronounced dead with a gunshot wound to the head. At approximately 3:21am, police located 44-year-old Verone Ray Carter inside a vehicle in the 3600 block of Eastern Avenue, NE, suffering from fatal, multiple gunshot wounds to the body.

***UPDATE: 3 men were stabbed this afternoon at the Rhode Island Avenue Home Depot parking lot, an "unofficial day-laborer site." Word on the Brookland listserv is that 2 of the men have since died . . . .***

Please, if possible, attend your ANC, PSA, CAC, and civic association meetings (see sidebar for as-complete-as-possible info). Join the Coalition of Concerned Neighbors (I will add that info to the sidebar soon). Join listservs, start a blog; call and write letters to your Commissioner, Council member, and the Mayor. Walk with your neighborhood Orange Hats . . . . The louder we are, the quieter our community will become.