Comments on: Major Police Presence Around 16th and Euclid St, NW last night Resolved Peacefully

By: Emily

Emily — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 20:08:34 +0000

The cops wouldn’t tell me anything but a neighbor said he heard it was a hostage situation. Doesn’t sound like we’ll get the whole story anytime soon.

By: Katie

Katie — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 19:35:44 +0000

I walked by a little after 8pm and there were 5 cops cars parked outside of an apartment building on Euclid. When I returned around 9:40 pm they had the block barricaded. There were lots of local residents milling around and upon questioning offered that they had been told that there was been a SNIPER incident. This is just hearsay and has certainly not been in any way confirmed, but that was the word on the street last night.

By: Erik

Erik — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 19:33:39 +0000

yep, only happened to notice by chance glancing out my window. For the amount of police presence they werent making much noise, if i hadn’t randomly glanced outside i would’ve been oblivious too.

I’m guessing the action was centered around the “ritz” across the way?

By: CB

CB — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 19:28:10 +0000

I live on Fuller by Mozart and while I was not home last night, I’d too would like a bit more info. I’ve called the cops multiple times on the drunkards that hang out in front and behind my apartment and no cops ever show up – so I’m curious exactly what has to go down for this type of response to take place.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 19:25:41 +0000

oddly, it looked like a coast guard helicopter to me… orange and not blue & white like the MPD helicopter.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 19:05:09 +0000

I live in Dorchester House, I had friends over who tried to leave out the Euclid exit and were forced to come back inside and exit out Kalorama instead.

By: katesmash

katesmash — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 18:42:51 +0000

Do you live in the Dorchester house? I do as well, but my bedroom window looks out over Kalorama. I didn’t even notice anything going on last night.

By: ess

ess — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 17:20:47 +0000

This is weird. There is no DC Dept. of Health and Human Services. Health, yes, and Mental Health (seems the most likely for this situation), and Human Services (they fund homeless services and give out public benefits).

Also, I’d really like to hear from Lanier on these situations where someone is in their own home, alone, and why the police response is so huge. I’m not sure it makes sense to send a SWAT team when someone is only risking their own life–it probably makes unstable people more agitated/scared, it puts the cops at risk, and if MPD officers feel endangered and end up hurting/killing the person, there’s an expensive lawsuit.

I’m not saying the police should ignore the call, but sending a cop or two who’ve been specially trained in mental health and who can sit around until the person calms down and agrees to go over to St. E’s seems a lot more sensible.

By: Where's the story?

Where's the story? — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 17:17:31 +0000

I live on Fuller. I had a police scanner and the only thing I could make out, other than police staging directions, was that “a woman was having trouble breathing”. Swat trucks, Fire, Police, and Barricade lasted well past 1:00 am.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 16:35:01 +0000

When did ‘concerning’ become an adjective instead of a preposition? I blame Palin.