'The city is in crisis:' DC hits grim milestone with highest murder rate in 2 decades

WASHINGTON (7News) — With D.C. now sitting at 250 murders so far this year, the city has hit a grim milestone: most murders in more than two decades.

RELATED | Saturday night shooting marks DC's 250th homicide in 2023, most in over 2 decades

The most recent murder happened Friday after a shooting on the 1300 block of Florida Avenue NE, the day after Thanksgiving.

Kathy Henderson is the ANC Commissioner for Ward 5D06, which covers parts of the Trinidad and Carver-Langston neighborhoods, and said this year's violence calls for drastic measures.

"The city is in crisis. The city clearly is in crisis," Henderson said. "We need to call in the National Guard. We need to activate all 38 law enforcement agencies to help MPD patrol. This is a crisis. We have to put our citizens first. We can't make excuses. Every day, we should be seeing a representative from the mayor's office. We should be seeing the mayor, we should be seeing our councilmembers, we should be seeing our congresswoman. We should be seeing the entire team every day in every neighborhood, helping to allay citizens' fears. This is an unnecessary crisis, and we need to mobilize all of our resources to protect our citizens' lives and the visitors to our city. This is unacceptable."

At 250 murders so far this year, D.C. has seen a 34% increase in this specific crime compared to the same time last year.

7News On Your Side obtained data from the D.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, which revealed this is the most murders since 2002 when the city saw 278 murders.

"We need to make sure every assistant U.S. attorney shows up on time to try every case. We need to make sure MPD has strong cases that can be papered so they can move forward," Henderson said.

Since the summer, the D.C. Council has focused on public safety legislation.

In July, council members approved an emergency public safety bill that included measures designed to tamp down the rising violent crime. Measures included increasing the types of crimes for which judges could hold suspects in jail until trial, as well as increasing penalties for certain crimes - like illegal gun possession.

RELATED | DC Council passes controversial emergency crime act to combat city's rising violence

Since that was an emergency bill, it could only be in effect for 90 days. Before it was set to expire in October, council members approved an extension that allows that legislation to stay in effect until January 14.

However, council members are working on bills that would make some of these measures permanent.

Henderson told 7News she welcomes these pieces of legislation but wants to see more immediate actions.

"We're going to have to do both [long-term and short-term solutions]. You can talk about best legislative practices, but we need to do something now," Henderson said.

In the meantime, Henderson said she is doing her part to address the city's violence.

On Tuesday, she is holding a safety walk with MPD. That starts at 5:30 p.m. in front of the Union Heights apartment building on 1676 Maryland Avenue NE.

"The goal is a police presence. The goal is a lawful presence. We're making it clear: Don't come into our stores, don't break into our cars, don't shoot us," Henderson said. "We need to activate all of our resources to protect lives. We cannot spare one District resident or visitor to horrific violence or carjackings, or seemingly unending crime."