“Welcome to Washington, D.C. Where violent crime permeates everything,” the D.C. Police Union tweeted after three people were shot and wounded outside Nationals Park during a Washington Nationals Major League Baseball game on Saturday.
The shootings, which took place outside the Third Base Gate of the stadium, brought the game to a halt and sent fans fleeing their seats during the sixth inning of the game.
In a Sunday Twitter post, the D.C. Police Union blamed the city’s epidemic of violent crime on “elected officials” who are obstructing their efforts to fight crime:
“Welcome to Washington, D.C. Where violent crime permeates everything. It is a tragedy that elected officials won’t let us do our jobs.”
While the shootings made national news headlines, three shootings in D.C. are nothing uncommon. In 2020, the city averaged nearly three (2.52) shootings per day, as the number of shooting victims jumped 64% to more than 920 during the year, The Washington Post reports.
Meanwhile, the city, led by Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser, continues its “Defund the Police” policies, shrinking the police force and cutting the department’s budget, even though homicides hitt a 16-year high, Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell notes.
