Halloween Muggings Rattle Neighborhoods; Sexual Assault on P Street

Halloween in Georgetown has become an annual tradition of viewing people wearing fun and scary costumes, seen along the sidewalks and in bars and restaurants. For a few, however, it is an annual opportunity to rob pedestrians amid the crowd despite a large police presence.

This year, Metropolitan Police Department reported muggings and assaults from Georgetown, the West End, Woodley Park to Chinatown. Suspects include groups of black youths, male and female. Some observers said they saw groups numbering as high as 15 to 20 persons, who appeared to be 17 to 18 years old.

A man was beaten and his cell phone stolen near the Melrose Hotel in the 2400 block of Pennsylvania Avenue NW.

A Georgetown University student was assaulted in the 3400 block of Prospect Street NW with the some suspects shouting hate speech. The student fell to the ground and was kicked and had to be taken to the hospital. His backpacks were taken and his laptop computer smashed on the ground.

Other robberies on Halloween night included those on the 3100 block of M Street NW (10 p.m.) and occurred in neighborhoods near Georgetown not used to violent crimes: Cathedral and Connecticut avenues NW (just after 10 p.m.) and the 2700 block of 29th Street NW (around 10:30 p.m.)

Before these crimes occurred, there was a reported sexual assault at 2819 P St. NW early Saturday morning, Oct. 29, after a private Halloween party on Friday evening involved hundred of guests. At the Nov. 1 Georgetown Advisory Neighborhood Commission monthly meeting, a Metropolitan Police officer confirmed the crime and implied that victim and suspect knew each other but refused to comment further on the case.

NBC4 News reported on Nov. 2: “A woman told police she was sexually assaulted Saturday at an exclusive Halloween party at a mansion in Georgetown. . . . The woman told police a man sexually assaulted her by force early Saturday in a second-floor room of the home, the report says. The attacker used his hands and feet as weapons, the woman told police. Two other women told officers they tried to come to the victim’s aid. One of these women said the attacker grabbed the victim by the hair and threw her around a room. The other woman said she was ‘pushed and thrown to the side’ by the attacker.”