A shooting on a street in the nation’s capital left three people dead and two others hospitalized Saturday night, police said.
District Councilmember Trayon White had something to say… and he offered more than thoughts and prayers.
White, a Democrat, said the National Guard should be deployed to restore order and combat spiraling crime.
“We must declare an emergency regarding the crime and violence in our neighborhoods and act urgently,” White said in a statement. “It may be time to call on the National Guard to protect the children and innocent people that are losing their lives to this senselessness.”
He didn’t stop there.
“The crime is out of control and getting worse by the day,” White continued. “I am tired of burying our children. We are too comfortable with the state of our city. We must take action to gain control and protect our residents. Law enforcement is only one part of how we combat public safety issues. It will take all of us to heal our community.”
White represents Ward 8, the site of the shooting. He’s set to give a news conference Tuesday afternoon near the crime scene, and he encouraged participation by both elected officials and non-political leaders, like business owners.
D.C., Metropolitan Police Department Acting Chief Pamela Smith has also asked for civilian involvement, particularly involvement in collecting information.
“We realize that there may be others who may have been injured tonight. We are asking you to come forward,” Smith said, adding that the community needs to be involved in stopping the city’s violence. “It can’t rest upon the metropolitan police department to determine what works and what doesn’t work.”
White, 39, has previously discussed violent crime and its specter over his upbringing.
“There were often times when we couldn’t go outside because our neighborhood was beefing with another neighborhood, or between one family and another family in the courtyard,” White told The Washington Post in 2015.
Still, White isn’t not the first person to call for bringing the National Guard into D.C.
In 2020, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., wrote an op-ed to argue for sending the National Guard to the capital in order to keep the peace during that year’s Black Lives Matter unrest. Eventually, the conservative leader got his wish.
At the time, Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser feuded with Cotton over the matter.
Now, some local leaders agree with Cotton.
Take a look —
PRESS RELEASE: Councilmember Trayon White will hold a press conference today following the record number of shootings over the last few days. pic.twitter.com/2NOYSl5nMs
— Trayon White (@trayonwhite) August 8, 2023
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article.