A woman and two firefighters were injured Friday night after a fire broke out at a rowhouse in Southeast D.C.
A woman and two firefighters were injured Friday night after a fire broke out at a rowhouse in Southeast D.C.
D.C. Fire and EMS reported to the 700 block of G Street SE around 8:30 p.m. for reports of a fire on the first floor of the home.
A woman was transported to a local hospital with critical and life-threatening injuries, D.C. Fire and EMS spokesman Vito Maggiolo confirmed with WTOP.
Update Working Fire 700 block G St SE. Civilian transported in life threatening condition was adult female. 1 firefighter being transported non life threatening injury & 2nd firefighter being evaluated. Fire confined to 1st floor & under control. #DCsBravestpic.twitter.com/AI8BN6hIZf
One firefighter was transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and a second firefighter was being evaluated on the scene for non-life-threatening injuries.
As of 9:38 p.m., D.C. Fire and EMS said the fire was contained and under control. Investigators are now surveying the scene to determine a cause and any potential impacts.
Below is a map of where the fire happened:
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A group of young volunteers known as D.C.’s Snow Team Heroes is going door to door to help dig neighbors out.
A group of “Snow Team Heroes” from Southeast D.C., shoveled snow from their neighbor’s steps.(WTOP/Mike Murillo)
A group of “Snow Team Heroes” from Southeast D.C., shoveled snow from their neighbor’s steps.(WTOP/Mike Murillo)
A stretch of Southeast D.C. remains frozen solid days after Sunday’s snowstorm, leaving many seniors unable to get out of their homes. But a group of young volunteers known as D.C.’s Snow Team Heroes is going door to door to help dig them out.
Among them was 14‑year‑old Rodriguez Norman Jr., who said he’s spent the last few days doing whatever he can to help his neighbors.
“I’ve just been outside, especially with some of my friends out here, just shoveling snow,” he said.
The work is anything but easy. The storm left behind thick, stubborn layers of ice that require more than just a plastic shovel to break up.
Trying to explain the challenge to younger volunteers, Rodriguez demonstrated how to tackle it:
“You use a big shovel to help you break up the ice and all that, and use the big shovel to get everything that broke off away,” he said.
His father, Rodriguez “Rodney” Norman Sr., supervised the group gathered on Brothers Place in Southeast D.C. and said the youth effort is intentional and necessary.
“We’ve been empowering our young people to dig out the community, so to speak. We’re starting off with our elders, right? Because we do understand a lot of our elders don’t have the capacity to dig themselves out,” Rodney said.
The Snow Team Heroes’ effort is happening across the city.
Steve Walker, deputy chief of staff to Mayor Muriel Bowser, told WTOP the city has deployed over 500 Heroes so far with this recent storm.
“We have people who are both dedicated to our community, to their neighbors,” Walker said. “Because it’s a neighbor-by-neighbor project, we try to match people with homes in their neighborhood relatively close that they can walk to.”
For 37-year-old Rodney, helping this particular Southeast D.C. street holds personal meaning.
“I was born and raised on this actual street, Brothers Place,” he said.
As the young volunteers chip through the ice, they scoop away the loose chunks and then spread salt to keep the walkways safe. And, according to Rodney, the people they help don’t hide their appreciation.
“It’s so much love. It’s so it’s so many hugs,” he said.
And while the job is grueling, young Rodriguez said helping his neighbors who can’t do it themselves is worth it: “It feels good,” he said.
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The Soul of the City BID will span Congress Heights and some adjacent neighborhoods in Southeast. The new taxes get reinvested into those areas — leading to the improvement of local businesses.
D.C.’s 13th Business Improvement District has been signed off by the D.C. Council, and once the mayor’s office gives it the go-ahead later this month, tax hikes are coming to businesses and the owners of multifamily housing units in part of Southeast D.C.
And there’s excitement about what it all means.
The Soul of the City BID will span Congress Heights and some adjacent neighborhoods in Southeast. The new taxes get reinvested into those areas — leading to the improvement of local businesses.
When it gets final approval, it’ll be the culmination of 10 years of work from Monica Ray.
“It’s transformative, bringing the power and the leverage of a guaranteed income stream to this part of the city,” Ray said. “This BID has the unique task of bringing together historically disconnected corridors — Wheeler Road, Southern Avenue, Alabama and MLK — and they’ve been adjacent across communities, across neighborhoods.”
“This BID takes a unique take on bringing those together strategically for planning, for collaborative advocacy, and of course, to fight back on those things that are hurting our communities right now,” she added.
Typically, BIDs focus on using the tax revenues toward branding, marketing, safety and beautification work. But Ray said Soul of the City will also use it for workforce development opportunities.
“This means that we really have backing and funding for what we really want to do,” said Keyonna Jones, who owns and operates an art studio and retail store in Congress Heights. “We can build a future that we can see.”
“I feel like we’ve lacked support for a very long time. It felt like that, at least coming from a business perspective,” said LeGreg Harrison, CEO of The Museum DC store. “Now that we have this … the city has assured us that they think we’re important, right? Important enough to give us cleaner streets, make business and retail more attractive.”
There’s also a sense that it adds legitimacy to an area that often feels forgotten — until something bad happens.
“It is so pleasant, it is so beautiful,” Harrison said. “We are the soul of this city.”
And Ray said that one soul will beat with one heart. After years of each neighborhood operating in their own silos, this BID will invite collaboration among them in ways that didn’t exist before.
Organizers hope this expression of confidence from the city will also change the perception people — and businesses — might have of the neighborhood going forward.
“This really means that the city is behind us. They believe in what we’ve done, what we have plans to do,” Jones said. “When the city gets behind you, you really know that you’re doing good things in the area.”
A man was critically injured in a fire at an apartment building in Southeast D.C. on Monday night.
A man was critically injured in a fire at an apartment building in Southeast D.C. on Monday night.
D.C. Fire and Emergency Services responded to a fire in the 3500 block of Minnesota Avenue SE, near Edgewood Baptist Church, at 7:52 p.m.
Box Alarm updated address 3500 block Minnesota Ave SE. Victim transported to hospital with critical life threatening injuries. Fire under control. Investigators on scene. #DCsBravestpic.twitter.com/Ro059bjba4
WTOP asked some of the Washington Commanders’ future neighbors along East Capitol Street in Southeast D.C., about their biggest hopes and fears tied to the future stadium.
Nearly 29 years after the Burgundy and Gold beat the Dallas Cowboys at the team’s final game at RFK Stadium, the D.C. Council approved a $3.7 billion deal that will bring Washington’s NFL football team back to the District.
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The Washington Commanders are returning to DC as council approves $3.7B deal for stadium at RFK site
The new stadium is expected to be completed in 2030, and while many people living near the stadium site are excited, they do have some concerns.
WTOP asked some of the Washington Commanders’ future neighbors along East Capitol Street in Southeast D.C., about their biggest hopes and fears tied to the future stadium.
From 16-year-old high school student Elijah York to retired art teacher Katie Cushman, excitement and city pride are some of the biggest hopes the team’s return can bring.
Cushman, who has lived six blocks from RFK Stadium for 42 years, said she is looking forward to cheering fans and seeing them wear jerseys while walking down her street again. However, she also acknowledged that her husband was not pleased with the stadium deal.
York, who wasn’t born when the Burgundy and Gold left D.C. for Prince George’s County, Maryland, said he hopes the team brings excitement to the District.
Another hope that was mentioned often had to do with economic issues, like when Delano Burnett — who was wearing an old-school style team hat — said he hopes the stadium brings jobs to the neighborhood.
Ward 7 resident Jaida Jackson said she hopes that the new stadium benefits people in all of D.C.’s eight wards.
Idaho native Andrew Enriquez, who lives only 12 blocks away from RFK Stadium, was on his way to Northwest Stadium to see the Commanders take on the Raiders. He wore a Commanders’ No. 41 jersey since he is from the same town in Idaho as Washington tight end Colson Yankoff.
“I just really hope we get it right on a blend between a new cutting-edge stadium to enjoy football, without pricing out the fans,” said Enriquez.
While everyone WTOP spoke with showed excitement, some of the fears they mentioned were housing prices, changes to the neighborhood’s character and — as York said — “traffic, traffic, traffic.”
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Anacostia High School in Southeast D.C. already has a hydroponic classroom lab. Now, it has a hydroponic greenhouse as well.
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A new kind of ‘living’ classroom opens at a DC high school
Cutting-edge hydroponic gardening is about to grow at a high school in Southeast D.C.
Anacostia High School already has a hydroponic classroom lab and now, it has a hydroponic greenhouse as well. It opened Thursday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“Getting this greenhouse done required a lot of work, across many government agencies,” said Julie Lawson with the D.C. Department of Energy and Environment. “This is a way for us to create a more sustainable community.”
The District partnered on this project with the school system, the University of the District of Columbia, Pepco and others.
“This is just the beginning of an emerging partnership,” University President Maurice Edington said at the ribbon cutting. “Together, we are creating new pathways for students to explore STEM careers while addressing critical issues like food insecurity.”
Anacostia High School Principal Kenneth Walker is excited about what students will learn.
“This greenhouse will provide our students an invaluable hands-on experience, in particular in an area that’s recognized as a food desert,” Walker said.
In addition to learning about science, the students will also sell what’s grown in the greenhouse helping relieve the food desert problem, and to develop business skills.
Anacostia High School already has a hydroponic classroom lab, now it has a hydroponic greenhouse as well.
(WTOP/Kyle Cooper)
WTOP/Kyle Cooper
Anacostia High School hosted a ribbon cutting for the new hydroponic greenhouse on Oct. 24, 2024.
(WTOP/Kyle Cooper)
WTOP/Kyle Cooper
In addition to learning about science, the students will also sell what’s grown in the greenhouse helping relieve the food desert problem, and to develop business skills.
(WTOP/Kyle Cooper)
WTOP/Kyle Cooper
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A Maryland man has been sentenced to 68 years in prison for the murder of his child’s mother and grandmother, shooting another person and setting a D.C. apartment on fire with his baby inside.
A Maryland man has been sentenced to 68 years in prison for the murder of his child’s mother and grandmother, shooting another person and setting a D.C. apartment on fire with his baby inside.
Keanan Christopher Turner, 35, of Clinton, was sentenced Friday in the shooting death of the mother of his 3-month-old son, 32-year-old Ebony Wright, and her mother, Wanda Wright, 48. Another female relative was also shot and survived.
Turner had been in a relationship with Ebony Wright when she became pregnant. He asked her to terminate the pregnancy, which she refused; after which, Turner stopped speaking to her.
After giving birth, she filed a custody and child support lawsuit against Turner. On April 12, 2021, Turner reached out to meet his child at her apartment, where Wanda Wright, a female relative and the baby were also present.
Turner went to the bathroom after meeting the family and came back with a gun, a Justice Department news release said. He then shot Ebony Wright in the head while she was holding the child, and then shot her mother. Turner then went into a bedroom and shot the relative.
“Before leaving the apartment, Turner lit the custody papers and set the apartment on fire, in an attempt to kill his own child. He then fled the scene,” the news release said.
Ebony and Wanda Wright died from their injuries, but the baby’s aunt was able to save him and call 911, according to reporting from the Washington Post.
Turner was found guilty on two counts of first-degree murder while armed, attempted first-degree murder of a minor, arson and destruction of property, among other charges.
At the sentencing hearing last week, prosecutors argued Turner should be sentenced to life in prison, given he showed a “complete lack of remorse” and “the heinous nature of the offense, namely the killing of two innocent women, the attempted murder of a third, and most horrific, leaving his own infant child to burn to death, solely to avoid paying child support.”
WTOP’s Abigail Constantino contributed to this report.
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A man has been sentenced to eight years in prison after shooting a D.C.-area minor he was in a relationship with.
A man has been sentenced to eight years in prison after shooting a D.C.-area minor he was in a relationship with.
Deangelo Wooten, 27, sent text messages to the teenage girl, who is 10 years younger than he is, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
Police said that Wooten made multiple threats before the shooting. On Jan. 20, 2024, he texted the girl “imma shoot you dead in your face,” police said.
The victim, who was 16 years old at the time, told police that she originally thought he was just trying to get a reaction from her.
The girl met up with Wooten in Southeast D.C. to exchange a pair of shoes. During the meetup at 13th Street and Congress Street SE, Wooten pulled out a gun and started shooting, according to the news release.
The victim was shot in the arm and the bullet “grazed her back,” according to the release. She was treated at a hospital.
Wooten, of no fixed address, plead guilty on July 19 and was sentenced last week.
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A D.C. family’s dog got out of their Southeast house last week and came back days later with a gunshot wound. Now, Humane Law Enforcement officers with the HRA are looking for the person who wounded the pup.
Louisa, a white and brown pit bull mix, left the family’s home last week and returned with a gunshot wound. She is expected to make a full recovery.
(Courtesy Humane Rescue Alliance)
Courtesy Humane Rescue Alliance
“It does turn out that the bullet had traveled from between her eyes, through her throat and lodged in her neck. It was making it very difficult for her to breathe,” Diane Ashton with the Humane Rescue Alliance told WTOP.
(Courtesy Humane Rescue Alliance)
Courtesy Humane Rescue Alliance
The bullet was removed and Louisa is in stable condition, though she has multiple facial fractures. She is expected to make a full recovery.
(Courtesy Humane Rescue Alliance)
Courtesy Humane Rescue Alliance
A D.C. family’s dog got out of their Southeast house last week and came back days later with a gunshot wound. Now, investigators are looking for the person who wounded the pup.
“The good news is she’s expected to make a full recovery,” Diane Ashton with the Humane Rescue Alliance told WTOP.
Louisa, a white and brown pit bull mix, left the family’s home on Ely Place near Minnesota Avenue on Wednesday, Sept. 11. The dog returned home Friday with a bullet wound between her eyes.
The family immediately took Louisa to an emergency veterinarian.
“It does turn out that the bullet had traveled from between her eyes, through her throat and lodged in her neck. It was making it very difficult for her to breathe,” said Ashton.
The bullet was removed and Louisa is in stable condition, though she has multiple facial fractures.
“There’s absolutely no reason for anyone to shoot a dog like that,” said Ashton, describing the dog as sweet and loving.
Humane Law Enforcement officers with the HRA are now looking for the shooter. They are offering up to $5,000 for any information that leads to an arrest and conviction.
If you have any information, please contact the HRA at 202-723-5730, option three.
“It’s truly a miracle that Louisa survived this, and now we’re focusing on making sure we find whoever did this, and we really do need the public’s help,” said Ashton.
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Many of the services that D.C. provides are only steps away, but people might not realize it. Wendy Glenn, the city’s first ward manager, is helping connect residents to the services that District has to offer.
In a building off Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Southeast, Wendy Glenn sat behind a desk, helping residents connect to the services that the District has to offer them. She’s the city’s first ward manager, a position D.C. plans to introduce to all eight wards.
Her team will operate out of the newly-opened Safe Commercial Corridor Hub in the Salvation Army Building. Many of the services that D.C. provides are only steps away, she said, but people might not realize it.
Glenn will lead Ward 8’s team of representatives with the Mayor’s Office of Community Relations and Services. She said nearby residents who come to the hub can connect with the Department of Housing and Community Development and D.C. Health for any sort of assistance they may need.
The hub is staffed by outreach teams from multiple public safety and human services agencies that can respond to challenges in the community, including crime, mental health issues and substance abuse. For people returning to the community after incarceration, they can find help at the Mayor’s Office of Returning Citizens Affairs.
“There’s so many things along this Avenue that you cannot and will not miss a beat as far as getting your city services done,” Glenn said.
With concerns over crime in the city, WTOP heard from residents last year who called for city leaders to be more visible in Ward 8, and Glenn said her hope is the team, along with the other resources provided at the hub, will help show the city is there.
“We walk around the Corridor to make sure that people know that the mayor’s office is here,” she said.
The hub will also be staffed with a D.C. police officer, who Glenn said will not only help residents in times of need but also better relationships between the community and law enforcement.
“Having the police here to just say, ‘Hey, how you doing? How’s your day going? Can I help you with something?’ Just to have them here, to have a presence, is really good for us,” she said.
Additionally, D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith said the new hub would add law enforcement resources to Anacostia.
“It’ll give our officers the opportunity to be readily accessible,” Smith said. “We will cut down on response time.”
City leaders said the Safe Commercial Corridor Hub that’s already been established in Chinatown has been a success, noting a 78% drop in violent crime within 1,000 feet of the hub since it opened.
Who is Wendy Glenn?
Ward 8 Safety Hub Manager Wendy Glenn (center) with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser at the opening of the Anacostia location on Thursday.
Glenn’s passion for helping her community came from her experience of being someone who needed assistance but didn’t have access to it when she was young, she said.
Glenn was in foster care early in her life in Philadelphia, which she said was difficult because, at the time, the city lacked the services to help her. She later became an emancipated minor at 16.
Her move to D.C. didn’t come for another 13 years. In 1995, the a newly-divorced mom of two decided to move to the nation’s capital after being inspired by the Million Man March where thousands of Black men marched on the National Mall to promote unity and combat negative stereotypes.
“I didn’t really need to stay in Philadelphia, where I felt like it was just too many bad memories,” Glenn said.
After moving to the District, she worked in several federal government roles before starting with the D.C. government. She worked for the city’s Department of Employment Services, Parks and Recreation, and eventually was hired by the mayor’s office.
Beyond all that, she said her children have flourished in the city.
“For me, raising my children here has been the best thing ever,” she said.
Her goal in this position is to see Ward 8 flourish too, and she believes this hub will help it continue to grow, she said.
“I love this role,” Glenn said. “Managing this hub, working in this hub, is the best thing that I could have done in my career.”
WTOP’s Nick Iannelli contributed to this report.
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A D.C. police officer is in the hospital following a crash Thursday morning in the Navy Yard neighborhood of the District.
A D.C. police officer is in the hospital following a crash Thursday morning in the Navy Yard neighborhood.
Police told WTOP the officer was riding a police motorcycle when they were hit by a car just before 8 a.m. at the 400 Block of M Street in Southeast D.C.
The officer was transported to a hospital, but the extent of their injuries are not known at this time. Police said the driver who hit the officer stayed on the scene.
M Street fully reopened for vehicle traffic after being partially closed for over two hours Thursday morning during the investigation.
A map with the approximate location where the crash took place is below.
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Derrick Teeter, 32, of Oxon Hill was sentenced to seven years in prison on Friday for carjacking a Lyft vehicle in Southeast D.C. in 2022.
A Maryland man was sentenced to seven years in prison on Friday for carjacking a ride-share vehicle in Southeast D.C. in 2022.
Derrick Teeter, 32, of Oxon Hill, requested a Lyft ride on June 2, 2022, to go from the 3800 block of South Capitol Street to the 600 block of 46th Street, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C.
While in the back seat of the vehicle on the passenger side, Teeter said he was feeling sick and asked the driver to pull over into a grassy area. After exiting the vehicle, prosecutors said that Teeter asked the driver for some water and tissue.
That’s when Teeter pushed the driver to the ground, jumped into the passenger seat and attempted to drive away, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C.
“While lying on the ground, the victim grabbed the passenger’s door of his vehicle, yelling for the defendant to ‘stop,’” prosecutors said in a statement, adding that Teeter “kept driving and dragged the victim for a short distance.”
When the Lyft driver was able to get up, officials said the victim flagged down another driver, who called 911. The vehicle was recovered the following day.
Teeter request to be sentenced under the District’s Youth Rehabilitation Act, which allows alternative sentences for young defendants, was denied by the court.
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A man is dead and two others, including a teenager, were injured in a shooting Wednesday night in Southeast D.C.
A man is dead and two others, including a teenager, were injured in a shooting Wednesday night in Southeast D.C.
Police said, around 7:45 p.m., they responded to the 3400 block of Stanton Road SE near the Children’s National Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus (THEARC) hospital for reports of a shooting.
D.C. police confirmed with WTOP that they found two men and a teenager suffering from gunshot wounds and were taken to a local hospital. They confirmed that one of the victims — 26-year-old Amaru Cureton, of Southeast D.C. — died on Thursday.
The other man and teenager got treatment for non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Police ask those with information to call them at 202-727-9099 and there will be reward of up to $25,000.
Below is a map of where the shooting took place.
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The body of a homicide victim found in a Charles County, Maryland, field in 1998 has now been identified as a woman from Southeast D.C.
Side-by-side images of Jane Doe composite and LaQuand Denise “Niecey” Williams. (Courtesy Charles County Sheriff’s Office)
Side-by-side images of Jane Doe composite and LaQuand Denise “Niecey” Williams. (Courtesy Charles County Sheriff’s Office)
The body of a homicide victim found in a Charles County, Maryland, field in 1998 has now been identified as a woman from Southeast D.C., according to a news release.
LaQuanda Denise “Niecey” Williams of Southeast D.C. was 31 years old when her decomposing body was discovered in an overgrown Bel Alton field, near Irving Road and Route 301, by Charles County Sheriff’s Office investigators on June 18, 1998.
“Learning the identity of Jane Doe after 25 years is a testament to the relentless dedication of our investigators,” said Charles County Sheriff Troy D. Berry in a statement issued Friday.
Sheriff Berry said the identification of Williams is a “significant step forward in bringing answers to light and ensuring that she is no longer Jane Doe, but a person with a name and a story.”
Investigators in 1998 found Williams was not carrying identification, and without any matching fingerprints on file, the case went cold, as WTOP previously reported in 2018.
While investigators were unable to determine Williams’ identity at the time, they were able to determine her death was a homicide.
“Now, we have a name to work with in an attempt to identify the person responsible for her murder. We won’t give up in our pursuit for justice,” Sheriff Berry said in a news release.
The Sheriff’s office said a tip by a relative was received by forensic science investigators the night that the 2023 report was broadcast, and officials told Williams’ family that an unidentified body from 1998 was their loved one on Oct. 25, 2023.
The Sheriff’s office asks anyone with information regarding the homicide of LaQuanda Williams to contact Detective Shankster at 301-932-3037 or shanksterc@ccso.us. Anyone with information about any crime can reach Charles County Crime Solvers by calling 1-866-411-TIPS or submitting information online at www.charlescountycrimesolvers.com
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D.C. police are seeking to identify a suspect they believe left the scene of a fatal car crash while driving a stolen vehicle in Southeast on Thursday night.
D.C. police are seeking to identify a suspect they believe left the scene of a fatal car crash while driving a stolen vehicle in Southeast on Thursday night.
At around 10:15 p.m., the driver of a stolen Volkswagen Golf was moving northbound at a high speed on Alabama Avenue SE when it entered the intersection with 25th Street SE and hit a Hyundai Accent, according to a news release from police.
The driver and passenger of the Hyundai — a man and a woman — were ejected from the car following the crash, police said.
The man, identified as 27-year-old Steven Jermaine Faison Jr., died at the scene, while the woman was taken to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
The driver of the Volkswagen Golf fled the scene on foot, according to police.
Police ask anyone with information about this incident to call the department at 202-727-9099 or text the department’s tip line at 50411.
Below is a map showing the area where the crash took place:
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