A Republican congressional aide on Wednesday discussed being held up at gunpoint in the District as one of two staffers who were robbed over the weekend in separate muggings in the Navy Yard neighborhood.
Octavian Miller, who works for Rep. Mike Collins of Georgia, told “Fox & Friends” that he was walking with a friend early Sunday when two masked gunmen hopped out of a car and aimed at his and his friend’s stomachs.
“You never think you’d be the one in the next story headline, right?” Mr. Miller said. “I thank God that nothing else bad happened to us, but you hear about these stories, and it’s quite unfortunate we live in a city where it feels like you have to fend for yourself.”
He said he handed over his watch in the robbery and his friend was punched in the face before the attackers ran off.
Mr. Collins said the attack is another indictment on the state of public safety in the nation’s capital.
“It is very much out of control, and we [call it] a warzone,” Mr. Collins told the network. “They have polled — constantly — the citizens that live here in D.C., and no one feels safe.”
Metropolitan Police said two robberies took place early Sunday in Southeast.
The first occurred just before 2 a.m., when three robbers stopped their black sedan on the 1000 block of Half Street Southeast and approached four victims, police said.
One of the victims handed over a watch and another who began arguing with the thieves was told “Don’t be stupid. We’ll shoot you,” police said.
Authorities said a second robbery happened at about 3:15 a.m. in the 800 block of New Jersey Avenue SE after a pair of gunmen jumped out of a black sedan and held up four people on the sidewalk.
Investigators said they believe the two robberies were carried out by the same crew.
Rep. Dan Bishop, North Carolina Republican, told local Fox affiliate WTTG that one of his staffers was with a group of friends when they were “attacked by a gang of armed criminals on a robbery spree.”
Mr. Bishop’s statement pointed to the District’s “leftist pro-crime policies” that he said “embolden criminals and everyone who lives, works and visits here in danger.”
Mr. Collins told Fox News that last year’s spike in D.C. crime — which included a record number of killings and carjackings, as well as frequent street robberies — should prompt a hard look at the District’s home rule.
Last month, a bipartisan coalition of House lawmakers passed a bill that seeks to limit the federal city’s ability to govern itself on public safety matters. The proposal faces steep odds to pass the Senate.
Violent crime in the District has dropped 26% through the first five months of the year, according to Metropolitan Police data.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.