Washington, D.C

Dozens died unhoused in D.C. this year as homelessness spiked

Published

1 year ago

December 21, 2023

Dozens died unhoused in D.C. this year as homelessness spiked

Unhoused people and their advocates marched through downtown Washington Wednesday in an annual vigil to honor those who died homeless in the District in the past 12 months.

There were many to remember. At least 77 homeless people have died in D.C. this year, according to city’s medical examiner. They fell prey to intoxication, accidents and homicides amid a record increase in homelessness across the nation.

Since the medical examiner typically takes up to 90 days to rule on a cause of death, the number of homeless people who died is almost certainly higher than the number reported.

Still, the official number was lower than that reported by advocates, whose informal count showed 90 people died while unhoused, including 57 who were granted a housing voucher that would cover some or all of their monthly housing costs but had not yet found a place to live. The slow churn of the District’s voucher process came under scrutiny this year as backlogs and staffing issues jammed the system and left scores of the city’s most vulnerable residents to face months of housing uncertainty and homelessness.

D.C. residents face long housing aid delays as 3,100 vouchers sit unused

Many unhoused people who died — 60 of 77 — perished in accidents caused by intoxication, according to medical examiner data. Eleven died from natural causes and three were homicide victims, the data said.

Rachelle Ellison, assistant director of the advocacy group People for Fairness Coalition, said ahead of the vigil that the end of emergency pandemic funding forced many people onto the street. One man, Leo Colter, was fatally shot and found dead on a park bench in McPherson Square, where he lived.

Ellison said Colter was “a big teddy bear” — a person who, like many unhoused D.C. residents, struggled with substance abuse and mental health issues but never harmed anyone. As the longest night of the year approaches, Ellison — who was homeless for 17 years herself — said it is her duty to honor Colter and people like him.

“I need to remember them for me,” she said. “It could have been me.”

About 4 p.m., around 100 advocates gathered at Luther Place Church on Thomas Circle before an empty coffin placed on the church’s altar — a symbol of those who, as advocates put it, “died without the dignity of a home.”

After distributing a list of the 90 people who died — identified only by initials and age — advocates chanting “Housing is a human right!” marched down 14th Street through rush hour traffic to Freedom Plaza. There, in a tent on the plaza, formerly homeless people and policymakers spoke of the need to make more housing available to those in need.

Reginald Black, a member of the People for Fairness Coalition, said he was homeless for a decade before he found a place to live. Most of those who die unhoused are people of color, according to Black, who face chronic unemployment as their existence is criminalized when their only crime is poverty.

“There is no difference between a runaway slave and a homeless person,” he said.

Councilmember Robert C. White Jr. (D-At Large) criticized Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) for what he said was a failure to get people housed despite increasing spending on homelessness. The vast majority of young adults and single adults experiencing homelessness in the District remained unhoused last year despite an infusion of housing vouchers.

“It’s not enough to have a program,” he said. “The program has to work.”

A spokesperson for the mayor did not respond to a request for comment.

Council member Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4) said she was there to honor David L. Ashmore, a homeless man in his 80s who lived in Ward 4. Ashmore was being connected with housing and had even looked at apartments but died after his encampment was cleared, according to George.

“The government failed him,” George said. “I don’t think there’s a better way to put it.”

The vigil comes a week after federal government data showed homelessness increased a record 12 percent in 2023. The White House last year announced that it hoped to cut homelessness 25 percent by 2025.

If that goal is to be reached, the numbers are going in the wrong direction. More than 650,000 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night in January 2023, according to an annual assessment released by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development — the highest number of people recorded as experiencing homelessness on a single night since reporting began in 2007.

Local trends were in line with this increase. Data released in May showed the number of people experiencing homelessness in D.C. has increased by 11.6 percent over the past year, including a significant uptick in those living on the streets for the first time.

Homelessness soars by record 12 percent as covid support ends, HUD says

Inside the tent on Freedom Plaza, Jet Rippy, 54, was eating catered Popeyes chicken, sharing some with her service dog Sweet Tooth. She said she became homeless in 2018 after losing a job. Rippy is now squatting in her family home with no electricity in Ward 5 after the death of her grandmother and mother. She said she has been robbed of her legitimate claim to the home by a family member who disapproves of her because she is bisexual, she said.

Rippy said she was desperate to find a way out of homelessness but hasn’t found one. She dislikes panhandling. She wants to work and even studied journalism in college. But nothing has come together.

She had some advice for those who interact with the homeless.

“Be kind,” she said. “You never know when you’re going to be in this situation.”

Marissa Lang contributed to this report.

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Washington, D.C

Snow totals for DC, Maryland & Virginia, after overnight snowfall

Published

7 hours ago

January 11, 2025

Press Room

Snow totals for DC, Maryland & Virginia, after overnight snowfall

Overnight snow across the DC region

FOX 5’s Gwen Tolbart has your weekend weather forecast and what to expect with potential snow.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A winter weather system threatens the Washington, D.C. region this weekend.

According to FOX 5’s Gwen Tolbart, a Winter Weather Advisory until 1 a.m. Sunday for Garrett, Western Highland, Western Grant and Western Pendleton counties. An additional 2 to 4 inches of snow is possible with some isolated amounts up to 6 inches.

How much snow this weekend in DC? Snow forecast, timeline & expected totals

Gusty afternoon winds are expected to reach 40 mph and will cause blowing snow in the advisory area. Poor visibility and slick road conditions are to be expected.

Saturday will welcome some clouds that will eventually thin out to leave us with partly sunny skies. The highs are expected to remain in the 30s. Winds will be gusty from the Northwest region 10-15G30 mph. A very cold night ahead with mostly clear skies of 24F.

More sunshine is expected for Sunday with passing clouds. A cold and slightly breezy day on the horizon with highs again in the 30s. Overnight temperatures will drop to the low 20s and teens.

WeatherWashington, D.C.News

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Washington, D.C

Report: The Trumps are in talks to buy back D.C. hotel lease

Published

19 hours ago

January 11, 2025

Press Room

Report: The Trumps are in talks to buy back D.C. hotel lease

The Trump Organization is engaged in preliminary discussions to reclaim the lease on its former hotel in Washington, D.C., reports the Wall Street Journal.

The hotel is currently operating as a Waldorf Astoria.

The Wall Street Journal said Trump Organization executive vice president Eric Trump met with an executive from BDT & MSD Partners at Mar-a-Lago earlier this week to discuss purchasing the lease rights to the former Trump International Hotel Washington D.C.

BDT & MSD Partners currently controls the property’s lease, following a 2023 default and subsequent foreclosure by previous leaseholder CGI Merchant Group. The Trump Organization sold the hotel’s lease to CGI in 2022, and the hotel was reflagged as a Waldorf Astoria.

The 263-room hotel, which occupies the Old Post Office building, opened as a Trump hotel in 2016.

During President Donald Trump’s first presidency, the hotel was a prominent gathering spot for Republican lawmakers, lobbyists and others with business involving the administration. The property came under intense scrutiny because of ethical and legal concerns.

The hotel has some of the largest guestrooms in the city. Top-tier accommodations include the 4,000-square-foot Presidential One Bedroom Suite and 6,300-square-foot Waldorf Townhouse Two Bedroom Bi-Level Suite.

The hotel is home to restaurants The Bazaar by Jose Andres and the Michelin-starred Sushi Nakazawa, plus 38,000 square feet of event space and a 10,000-square-foot Waldorf Astoria Spa.

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Washington, D.C

Man at the center of Washington DC ‘Pizzagate’ killed during North Carolina traffic stop

Published

1 day ago

January 10, 2025

Press Room

Man at the center of Washington DC ‘Pizzagate’ killed during North Carolina traffic stop

The man who stormed into a Washington D.C. restaurant with loaded weapons during an incident widely known as “Pizzagate” is now dead after North Carolina police shot him during a traffic stop.

Edgar Maddison Welch, 36, was shot just after 10 p.m. last Saturday, Kannapolis Fire and Police wrote in a news release this week.

Welch is the same Salisbury, North Carolina man who in December 2016, showed up to Comet Ping Pong, a pizzeria in Washington DC., with loaded weapons to investigate “unfounded rumors concerning a child sex-trafficking ring” that was allegedly operating out of the restaurant, federal prosecutors said.

He pleaded guilty in March 2017 to a federal charge of interstate transportation of a firearm and ammunition, as well as a District of Columbia charge of assault with a dangerous weapon.

Three months later, he was sentenced to four years in prison.

What is ‘Pizzagate’? What happened at Comet Ping Pong?

Welch’s initial reason for making headlines in 2016 stemmed from rumors of a child sex trafficking ring allegedly operating out of the pizza restaurant he stormed into, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia.

Rumors began circulating online that the restaurant was part of a trafficking ring operated by then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton – a fake news campaign targeting Clinton during the general election.

Welch allegedly tried to recruit people to participate in the storming of the restaurant leading up to Dec. 4. He’d texted someone saying he was “raiding a pedo ring” and sacrificing “the lives of a few for the lives of many.”

Prosecutors said Welch traveled from North Carolina to Washington D.C. with three loaded firearms, including a 9mm AR-15 assault rifle loaded with 29 rounds of ammunition, a fully-loaded, six-shot, .38-caliber revolver and a loaded shotgun with additional shotgun shells.

Welch parked his car and around 3 p.m., walked into the restaurant, where multiple employees and customers were present, including children, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia said in a news release.

“He was carrying the AR-15 openly, with one hand on the pistol grip, and the other hand on the hand guard around the barrel, such that anyone with an unobstructed view could see the gun,” the office wrote in the news release.

Once customers and employees saw Welch, they fled the building. Welch was also accused of trying to get into a locked room by forcing the door open, first with a butter knife and then shooting his assault rifle multiple times into the door.

Shortly after he walked into the restaurant, an employee who had no idea what was going on walked in carrying pizza dough, federal prosecutors said. When Welch saw the employee, he turned toward the worker with the assault rifle, which made the employee think he was going to shoot them. The employee then ran out, leaving Welch alone in the restaurant.

Welch spent more than 20 minutes inside the restaurant, then walked out, leaving his firearms inside. Officials then arrested him.

When Welch was sentenced to four years in prison, he was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release, during which he’d have to get a mental health assessment.

He was also ordered to stay away from the Comet Ping Pong restaurant while released and to pay $5,744 in restitution for property damage.

What happened leading up to the Welch’s death?

The deadly traffic stop happened the night of Jan. 4, said Kannapolis Chief of Police Terry L. Spry in a news release.

Around 10 p.m., a Kannapolis Police Officer patrolling North Cannon Boulevard spotted a gray 2001 GMC Yukon. The officer recognized the vehicle because he’d previously arrested someone who frequently drove the vehicle, Welch. He also knew Welch had an outstanding warrant for his arrest, police said.

The officer stopped the vehicle and recognized the front seat passenger as Welch, who had an outstanding arrest warrant for felony probation violation, police said. While the officer was speaking with Welch, two additional officers showed up to help.

As the officer who made the traffic stop approached the passenger side of the vehicle and opened the front passenger door to arrest the individual, the passenger pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the officer.

The initial officer and a second officer who was standing at the rear passenger side of the Yukon ordered the man to drop the gun. After the passenger failed to lower his gun, both officers fired at him, hitting him.

Officials called for medical assistance for Welch who was taken to a hospital for treatment. He was later taken to another hospital, where he died from his injuries two days after the shooting.

None of the officers at the traffic stop were hurt and neither were the driver and back seat passenger in the vehicle with Welch.

The officers involved who fired their weapons were Officer Brooks Jones and Officer Caleb Tate. The third officer at the scene did not fire his weapon, police said.

District Attorney will decide next steps in traffic stop shooting death

An outside law enforcement agency has been requested to investigate the shooting.

“This practice ensures there is no bias during the investigation and the findings of the investigation are presented to the District Attorney without any influence by a member of the department,” the police chief wrote in the news release.

The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is still investigating the shooting and the two officers who fired their weapons are on administrative leave, which the police said is standard protocol.

Cabarrus County District Attorney Ashlie Shanley will decide what the next steps are, police said.

Contributing: Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY

Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY’s NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Follow her on Twitter at @SaleenMartin or email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.

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