“We plead for assistance to solve this case.”

600 block of Decatur St, NW via google maps

Release from MPD:

“Detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Fourth District seek the public’s assistance in identifying and locating suspects in reference to an Aggravated Assault offense that occurred on Monday, April 11, 2022, in the 600 block of Decatur Street, Northwest.

At approximately 9:24 pm, the suspects were in the rear of the listed location with the victim. The suspects assaulted the victim then fled the scene. The victim was transported to a local hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.

The suspects were captured by a surveillance camera and can be seen in this video.

Anyone who can identify these individuals or has knowledge of this incident should take no action but call police at (202) 727-9099 or text your tip to the Department’s TEXT TIP LINE at 50411.”

Ed. Note: At the request of a relative of the victim names have been redacted.

WARNING: The following account is graphic and incredibly upsetting to read.

Anyone with information can reach the police at (202) 727-9099 or text your tip to the Department’s TEXT TIP LINE at 50411

“Dear PoPville,

On Monday April 11, [the victim] was attacked in the alley next to his house. This happened at about 9:30pm with a 5 year old inside. The specifics are especially brutal: several years ago, at the beginning of Covid, they put up an adjustable basketball hoop on the back of the deck in the large alley for use by the family’s two young children and the many kids in the neighborhood that were eager for something to pass the time. They have always enjoyed having the court well-trafficked by local kids with no issues.

On the 11th, three teenagers and at least one younger child came to the alley at dusk to play. [The victim] went out and adjusted the hoop for them as he often does as a kindness and got out the basketballs he keeps on hand. He asked them to be sure to stop playing at dark so he could get his child to bed without noise. At 930 they were still playing so when the child complained, [the victim] went out to ask them to stop. I note here that he is not an imposing presence and is soft-spoken by nature. He walked halfway down the stairs to the alley asking them calmly to wrap it up, but was almost instantly jumped by the largest teen there. What we have pieced together from the blood trail, his injuries, and police discussions is that he was knocked out by the first punch,

thrown down the rest of the stairs and “stomped out”- kicked in the body and face repeatedly. Camera footage shows the kids leaving the alley shortly after, strolling, with no sense of urgency or fear though [the victim] was unconscious and bleeding badly a few feet behind them.

We now know they broke 6 bones in his face, including his orbital bone, nose and jaw, and knocked in most of his front lower teeth. There was so much blood that it has seeped into the concrete in the alley and won’t go away despite cleaning- the children will see it. A neighbor who went over said it looked like a murder scene.

When [the victim] woke up laying in the alley he got himself into the house. The police came quickly and a neighbor took the 5 year old child out of the house. But the ambulance took something like 20-30 minutes to appear, which is another outrage. One police lectured [the victim] about not calling them before he spoke to the kids about leaving- [the family] aren’t in the business of calling cops on kids for playing outside and these kids had been pleasant with [the victim] earlier in the evening. The ambulance took [victim] to the Medstar Washington Medical Center ER (his only option), but somehow didn’t admit him as a trauma, for which the hospital has apologized given the extent of his injuries.

We know he needs at least two more surgeries to his mouth and teeth, and possibly additional reconstruction of his lip and orbital bone. After a week he is finally home, but he can only have liquids for the next six weeks and we know this is the beginning of a long road.

His children are upset and asking why the basketball hoop was taken down and the stairs removed, and the family don’t have answers. All of the neighbors are very upset.

The impunity associated with this crime is of a level that requires accountability in our city– someone who does this casually, with teenagers and even a young child present and with no fear on the back-end seems like they might be involved in violence again. I want to stress here that the family have lived in Petworth for a decade and only ever encountered targeted violence between people who know each other, never anything random or of this kind of brutal attack. The family loves their neighborhood and Ward 4 generally, and want it to be safe for everyone.

We plead for assistance to solve this case.”