Shooting and Stabbings Rock Dupont Circle During WorldPride
One person was shot and two others stabbed in Dupont Circle on WorldPride Saturday, hours after U.S. Park Police removed anti-scale fencing.
A man was shot in Dupont Circle Park and two others were stabbed nearby on Saturday, June 7, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.
Police have asked all people, including neighborhood residents and Pride revelers, to clear the park.
Police closed off the 19th Street NW entrance to the Dupont Circle Metro station due to the investigation, reports D.C. ABC affiliate WJLA.
A Metropolitan Police Department spokesperson told Metro Weekly that “both incidents” — it appears the two stabbings were related — remain under investigation. The spokesperson also said that no arrests have been made at this time. More information will become available once incident reports from responding officers are filed.
The violence comes after U.S. Park Police took down the “anti-scale” fencing that had surrounded the circle. The fencing removal followed a series of flip-flops on the part of local officials regarding the circle’s closure.
U.S. Park Police moved forward with their plan to close the circle from 6 p.m. on Thursday, June 5 to 6 p.m. on Sunday, June 8, despite Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith rescinding a request she made in April asking the National Park Service to cordon off the circle.
As Metro Weekly previously reported, Smith had initially made the request in order to avoid placing a strain on limited police resources during the ongoing WorldPride festivities being hosted by D.C. this weekend.
U.S. Park Police subsequently moved forward with plans to close the circle, citing past instances of criminal activity, including rumors of a shooting, vandalism, and illegal activities in Dupont Circle Park as justification for why the public should be banned from the circle.
Given the reported shooting and stabbings, critics will have a harder time opposing future closures of Dupont Circle. Instead, Saturday night’s violence is likely to be seen as confirmation that the circle is a hotspot for criminal activity — reinforcing the U.S. Park Police’s original justification for the shutdown.
Major Frank Hilsher, the commander of U.S. Park Police’s Icon Protection Branch, had previously noted in a memo providing a threat assessment that he believed Smith’s initial request that the park be closed was justified.
“While some community leaders and residents have voiced their concerns for a closure of Dupont Circle to MPD, the threat of violence, criminal acts, and NPS resource destruction has only increased since MPD’s original…park closure request,” Hilsher wrote.
Hilsher also noted that the decision to close the circle was necessary to deter potential violence, reduce potential vandalism, and decrease the need for a law enforcement presence at the circle.
A spokesperson for the National Park Service was not immediately available to explain why the anti-scale fencing was removed and the Circle reopened to the public earlier on Saturday.
This is a developing story.
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