Soaring crime in the nation's capital is leaving residents rattled, with locals driving small distances to avoid walking the dangerous streets and others now too fearful to step outside even during the day.
Homicides and robberies are up 29 and 67 per cent from the same time period last year, with murders approaching levels not seen in two decades - while other big cities such as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Baltimore are seeing declines.
Neighboring Baltimore could end the year with under 300 killings for the first time since the riots over Freddie Gray's death in police custody in 2015.
Yet in Washington DC, one 58-year-old lobbyist told The Washington Post that he stopped walking in his neighborhood after he and his husband were attacked near Dupont Circle, and then had a bottle thrown at them outside Whole Foods. The couple left the city last month after 30 years, relocating to Maryland.
'I've always thought I could outrun any criminal in the past,' he said. 'I can't anymore. I'm a sitting duck.'
Nora Fanfalone, 28, a management consultant, said she now uses the service entrance to her downtown apartment building to avoid being shoved by an aggressive man again, or witnessing a gunfight on her doorstep, as happened recently.
'I'm like, "How did I get this wrong?" I live across from the Smithsonian and there's an Hermès store two blocks away,' she told the paper.
'It's very surprising that public safety is an issue in a neighborhood with such high traffic and major attractions.'
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