From the Forum – A Suspicious SUV Casing Neighborhood Vehicles

Photo by PoPville flickr user Jim Havard

A Suspicious SUV Casing Neighborhood Vehicles:

“I wanted to report some seemingly suspicious activity to the Popville community. I live on Kennedy Street NW, and the following took place on the 1300 block around 2:30 AM last Sunday.

Realizing I’d left my phone in my car, I went to retrieve it. I brought along my super-duper heavy-duty flashlight, as I typically do if I have to go out to my car late at night.
On the south side of Kennedy Street, next to the bus stop, was an idling black Cadillac Escalade, a gigantic SUV. Although I think it had DC plates, I didn’t observe closely enough to be certain, and I didn’t think much of it. I went to my car, retrieved my phone, and started back to my building. As I walked along the north side of Kennedy, this SUV started slowly moving along the cars on the south side of the street.

I looked at the driver as they drove past me; I couldn’t see anything beyond them likely being a male with closely-cropped hair, but they were definitely scrutinizing something as they drove down the street (cars? street addresses?). When I returned to my building’s front door, the vehicle did a u-turn and started down the other side of the street, again moving very slowly. There was parking to be had, so I assume they were not looking for parking. I observed from inside the lobby that the SUV then parked in the bus zone in front of my building, and idled there.

I went up to the building’s roof deck to observe them for a bit. After they sat there for a few minutes, I decided to shine my flashlight on their vehicle. They did not visibly react. Then I shone it on cars and the sidewalk around the vehicle, and on Colorado west of 14th Street (it’s a very powerful light; you can’t even look at it directly), and let it rest again on the SUV in a really deliberate, obvious way. While I can’t know for sure that they were reacting to me, the second time I let the beam linger on the SUV, it took off in a hurry, driving west to 16th Street NW at maybe 35-40 mph, and then drove north.

So, maybe it was suspicious, or maybe I was just being a bit paranoid, but it seemed hinky to me. Maybe it was nothing, or perhaps they were casing cars, looking for an address, or even waiting for an employee of an escort service. I’ll also note that somebody entered my car on this same street earlier this fall, and I don’t know exactly how they did so. They went through my glove compartment, and didn’t appear to steal anything. As they always say, don’t leave anything in your car! Be vigilant!”

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