Washington, D.C., is grappling with how to handle teenage violence hitting the city and whether to extend curfews that have been put in place in an attempt to control the problem.
WUSA reported Monday that residents in Southwest D.C. are worried following multiple fights that broke out outside a weekend youth event Saturday night near the King Greenleaf Recreation Center.
The D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation held an event Saturday for teens “to provide teens with a safe, supervised environment,” WUSA reported.
About a dozen juveniles were arrested in connection with the teen takeovers over the weekend for allegedly brawling in the streets and assaulting police officers.
Parents were especially concerned. Krystal Noble, who had a child at the event, was quoted by WUSA saying, “I was nervous,” adding that “the streets were packed, so it was no way. She was inside, thank God.”
Thennie Freeman, director of DC Department of Parks and Recreation, said in a Monday statement: “Young Washingtonians deserve safe places for fun and fellowship. The District offers hundreds of year-round programs across government and partner organizations. For the last four years, DPR has offered Late Night Hypes to safely welcome more than a thousand youth from across the District, every Friday night, all summer long.”
Freeman added, “Last weekend’s Teen Spring Jam continued this important work, offering youth a space for music, dancing, and socializing. As we continue into Spring Break and the summer, DPR and our public safety partners will continue to offer and expand places for our young people to gather safely.”
The incident comes following the DC Council postponing a vote on March 31 that would extend D.C.’s temporary youth 11 p.m. curfew, set to expire on April 15, for those 17 and younger through September.
Residents who live near the King Greenleaf Recreation Center told WUSA that the scene around the Saturday event made them feel unsafe.
“It make me feel like, okay I gotta either be in my house or don’t be nowhere walking because you don’t know what’s going to happen,” Gwendolyn McKoy said.
She also expressed concern about how teens left the event, saying, “When they let them out at 10 last night, they didn’t get on no bus… they went running straight up N Street, a bunch of kids,” she said.
Another area resident, Carol Muldrow, said, “They was fighting in the street, in the middle of the street. “They just jumped off the bikes and just start fighting.”
In a Saturday post on X, user Doug Hochberg posted two videos of what appeared to be groups of teens running through the streets of Southwest D.C. just after 10 p.m., a block north of the Waterfront Metro stop.
WUSA reported March 31 that Mayor Muriel Bowser also urged the D.C. Council to extend the enhanced curfew, saying, “The juvenile curfew has been described by some as a band-aid approach to preventing criminal and unsafe behavior by youth. While I do not necessarily agree with that description, it makes no sense to remove a band aid from an active wound.”
Fox News Digital reached out to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser for comment.
