Firefighters found the bodies of Savvas and Amy Savopoulos, their son Philip and housekeeper Vera Figueroa inside the family’s burning mansion near the Washington National Cathedral on May 14, 2015. Investigators said multiple people had tortured the family and Figueroa for 22 hours before killing them and setting the home on fire.

But it quickly became clear through DNA evidence, security camera footage, call logs and witness testimony that only one man was responsible. That man, Daron Wint, is now in prison serving four life sentences for the crime.

Laura Bach and Chris Bruckmann sat down with reporter Megan Cloherty on the “22 Hours: A Second Look” podcast for an in-depth interview about their experience. Bach is the deputy chief of the homicide section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of Columbia. Bruckmann is now at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, where he’s the supervisory trial counsel.

One might think that six years after the trial of Wint, some particulars of the case may be fuzzy, but the details came back quickly for both of the seasoned prosecutors. One of the shocking aspects of the case came to light on the first day, when his attorneys announced Wint was placing the blame on his brothers.

“We knew of the possibility of him blaming his brothers because of the DNA. But I think 鈥� even though we knew it was theoretically possible, we were really quite surprised that they blamed Stefan,” Bruckmann said.

And while it was a surprise when his attorneys called Wint to the stand, Bruckmann said they realized he’d testify in his own defense on day one of the trial.

“As soon as the opening happened, we both looked at one another like, ‘Oh my gosh, this guy’s gonna testify!'” Bach said. “Because there was no one else who could say that the brothers were involved, and the detail that they gave in their opening, we were, I mean, 100% certain that he was going to testify.”

Bruckmann shared how he nearly broke down when one family member was on the stand, describing the family’s burned home she still visited on Woodland Drive NW as her graveyard.

For Bach, the most difficult witness to interview was Wint himself. There was no grand jury testimony or previous interview of the defendant to work from before beginning her line of questioning. Bach, who is known for taking calculated chances in the courtroom during cross-examination, said she was aware that younger attorneys came to Courtroom 203 to see her in action.

“I remember when she was done, I grabbed a couple of the interns who had been helping us out, and dragged them out into the hallway, and just made sure that they understood they could practice law for 40 years and never see something like that again. It was absolutely incredible,” Bruckmann said.

On the podcast, both prosecutors discussed how they spent the one evening they had to find the man who Wint testified would provide his alibi during the killings, and formulate a strategy to dismantle Wint’s timeline.

What struck them both was Wint’s lack of remorse.

“In every violent crime trial I have ever been a part of, the defendant always says something in sentencing about how they feel so awful about what happened to the victim, even if they’re still denying having done it,” Bruckmann said. “They’ll say, ‘What happened to Mr. So-and-So was awful. That should not happen to anybody. It wasn’t me. But I do feel terrible for what happened to him,’ even if only from their own self interest of trying to make themselves look good to the judge. And Daron Wint didn’t do that, either with his own mouth or even through his attorneys.”

Hear the full conversation on the podcast, “22 Hours: A Second Look,” season four of the award-winning American Nightmares series.

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The daughter of the D.C. power couple held hostage and murdered inside their home 10 years ago is speaking about her experience for the first time.

Abigail Savopoulos also lost her 10-year-old brother and the family鈥檚 housekeeper, Vera Figueroa, when a Maryland man held them hostage for 22 hours before killing them and setting the home on fire.

Now, 小萝莉影视鈥檚 podcast covering the investigation and trial of the killer is being rereleased as 鈥�22 Hours: A Second Look,鈥� featuring Abigail鈥檚 full interview. It is part of new content that updates listeners on the case that captivated the D.C. region and focuses on the resilience of those who are still affected by the crime.

鈥淵ou try and come up with, 鈥極h, it could be anything else, not the worst case scenario.鈥� And unfortunately, it was the worst case scenario,鈥� Savopoulos told 小萝莉影视.

She shared what happened the moment she learned her childhood home was burning down with her family members inside.

鈥淚 was called to the headmaster’s office and sat down, and they’re like, 鈥榃e got a call from the detectives and you have to stay.鈥� They didn’t know if I was safe or not, obviously. 鈥� They didn’t know if these people were going to be immediately coming after me and my sister,鈥� Savopoulos said.

On the podcast, Savopoulos discusses getting married and starting her own family, how she keeps her parents’ memories alive, navigating parenting without them and how she’s finding peace in helping others who have also experienced loss.

Megan Cloherty returns as the host of the podcast. As part of the new season, she interviewed the developer who spent millions to build where the family鈥檚 house burned down; the man who was once thought to be connected to the crime; and reached out to the killer in prison.

鈥�22 Hours: A Second Look鈥� is the fourth season in the “American Nightmares” series. Listeners can hear the original episodes in their entirety, followed by new material as part of the rerelease. The content of the updates are intentionally planned so as not to give anything away for listeners who are experiencing the podcast for the first time.

When it was first released in the summer of 2019, 鈥�22 Hours鈥� rose to No. 2 on Apple Podcasts and was later named one of the best podcasts of the year by The Associated Press.

It鈥檚 a story told by journalists, witnesses, investigators, jurors and those closest to the families who lost their lives.

Listeners can find the first two episodes on Sept. 2. A new episode will follow each week.

Find 鈥�22 Hours: A Second Look鈥� anywhere podcasts are available.

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Ahead of July 1 鈥斅�when possessing and using small amounts of marijuana becomes legal in Maryland 鈥� Ocean City council members are taking steps to ensure most public places remain cannabis free.

Council members unanimously passed the first reading on an ordinance to ban cannabis consumption licenses and fine those that violate it,

There are also discussions about how to prevent resort businesses from selling or allowing pot on their property.聽The existing laws that prevent smoking on the beach or boardwalk will remain in place.

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In May 2019, Lieutenant Alita Gaskill was on her phone driving her unmarked cruiser when a Maryland State Trooper pulled her over. She flashed her lights, indicating she was fellow law enforcement, but eventually got out of her cruiser to talk with him.

“But when he exited his cruiser, he was irate. He was angry and started screaming to the top of his lungs to get back in my car. So, I was stunned. I couldn’t believe it. And then I started to get scared 鈥� He came upon me and grabbed me; put my hands, like really aggressive, behind my back, threw me against my car, cuffed me, and pushed me and was like, ‘Get on the ground.’ So of course, I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, like what is happening?'”

Shortly after, another Prince George’s County police officer pulled up, capturing the incident on his dashcam. Despite confirming she was a police officer through her tags and later through identification, state trooper Shareef Lewis arrested Gaskill.

“So, can you can imagine, me, I know my rights. I understand my rights. But, you know 鈥� he’s in charge of this situation. And he lied. You know what I mean,” she said.

After her arrest, the department placed the 24-year veteran on suspension and she later retired.

She called that time “awful,” adding, “being suspended 鈥� and having to endure that.”

After seeing what she called a false police report, Gaskill filed suit, alleging false arrest, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution and gross negligence, according to a news release. After a three-day civil trial, a jury found Lewis liable and awarded Gaskill $1.1 million.

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Infertility can be emotionally difficult and tough to navigate, and it’s also incredibly costly.

At-large Council member Christina Henderson’s bill requires both private insurers, as well as Medicaid and the DC Health Alliance, to cover the diagnosis and treatment of infertility, which is found to be especially cost-prohibitive to families of color.

“I felt that it was especially important given the racial justice equity issues as it pertains to fertility, in general, that Medicaid recipients and those who are on the Alliance also had access,” Henderson told 小萝莉影视.

Henderson reintroduced the , which navigates the tricky legislative ground of writing both private and public insurers into the requirement.

“No other jurisdiction in the country had provided 100% coverage for fertility, diagnosis and treatment. And part of the reason that hadn’t happened is 鈥� the federal government has not recognized this as a medically necessary or medically reasonable diagnosis that they should cover,” Henderson said.

It put the onus on the states to cover the cost themselves, and given that Medicaid is a 70/30 partnership between states and the federal government, it would have been impossible for D.C. to cover everyone who needed the financial aid.

Henderson said she and her team found that New York modeled legislation that influenced her bill’s language.

“They covered the diagnosis. And then they also covered ovulation therapy medications, to sort of help along the process for some people. So that’s what we put in our legislation. That would make us only the second jurisdiction to go that far,” Henderson said, regarding the legislation’s potential passage.

The bill also allows for embryo transfers to a surrogate, which is often uncovered for LGBTQ+ couples, as well as coverage for fertility preservation 鈥� the freezing of eggs and sperm 鈥� and up to three egg retrievals.

“Right now, if a Medicaid patient were to have breast cancer and have to go through this process, they would have to cover the process of freezing their eggs 100% out of pocket because it’s not covered by the insurance. And we feel like that’s one area, where perhaps we could push the needle,” Henderson said.

Should the bill pass, the District will join Maryland and 11 other states, where fertility health is protected by law.

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The Fairfax County Police Department is hoping residents will weigh in on public safety via a new online survey, popping up on browsers in the county over the next year.

The department has announced the launch of its yearlong partnership with Zencity, who will create the questions, to survey Fairfax County residents about their perceptions of safety.

The answers collected can be used to inform policy and how the department uses its resources.

Residents who stumble upon the poll, or ads for the poll while browsing, won’t know they are looking at an “official” police survey.

“(The ad) won’t say police, or picture or police on it, because that can create some biases,” said Maj. James Krause. “So what they do is use a general picture from someplace in Fairfax County, like a landmark.”

The survey aims to capture the sentiment of differing ages, races and communities. It is also available in nine languages, reflecting the diversity of the county.

“Some areas are heavy, very urbanized 鈥� for example, up in Tysons. There (are) also more suburban parts of the county. So every part of the county has different opinions and different points of view on things,” Krause said.

The department says it will review results from the poll monthly and tailor its operations according to what it learns.

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The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland said that Diape Seck, 29, helped carry out the fraud scheme that stole nearly $2 million in checks from the mail of religious institutions between January 2019 and January 2020.

said Seck, who was a customer service representative at a bank, opened 412 bank accounts with fake identities by mainly using Romanian passports and driver’s license information in exchange for cash bribes.

Seck was paid to open accounts for his at least eight co-conspirators, while at the same time working and conducting legitimate bank activities.

Checks payable to, and written from, churches and other institutions were deposited into many of those accounts and then withdrawn at ATMs in cash.

Co-conspirators also used fraudulent debit cards to rent cars which they didn’t return, resulting in charges by the rental car companies, which had to be written off by the bank.

According to court documents, the co-conspirators deposited at least $780,000 in stolen checks into the accounts and the bank had to write off at least $921,000 from the co-conspirators鈥� rental car scheme.

Seck and the co-conspirators were sentenced to federal prison and charged with conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and are ordered to pay over one million dollars each in restitution.

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The judge’s decision came after attorneys on both sides argued their case to D.C. Superior Court Judge Robert Okun 鈥� with the defense attorney for George Sydnor making the bold claim the evidence indicated the attack wasn’t random and that his client was attacked first.

On March 31, D.C. police officers responded to the Ivy City Hotel, where they found 31-year-old Christy Bautista stabbed to death. Officers found Sydnor, 43, inside the room, sitting on the bed smoking a cigarette with a bloody knife inside his jacket, according to charging documents.

Bautista’s family told NBC Washington that the Arlington, Virginia, native was in town from Harrisonburg to see a concert in D.C.

A medical examiner found Bautista was stabbed with such force that her lung, liver and spinal column were pierced, indicating she could have been paralyzed during the attack.

In the bold move, Sydnor’s defense attorney Jesse Winograd argued to Okun that, in his view, the evidence showed Sydnor was cut first, citing deep wounds to Sydnor’s hand. Prosecutors contend Sydnor cut himself inadvertently while carrying out the brutal attack.

Winograd also said the evidence shows Bautista let Sydnor inside the room before she was killed, indicating that, in his view, the meeting could not have been random.

During the hearing, Winograd played CCTV video from the Ivy City Hotel on March 31, showing Sydnor riding up on a bicycle up to Bautista’s room and pausing outside the door before entering.

Prosecutor Sarah Santiago said during that moment of hesitation, Sydnor was “turning over in his head an opportunity of what he could do.” She went on to point out the improbability of Bautista, who stood just over 5 feet tall, successfully attacking Sydnor who stands 6 feet, 4 inches in height.

“He would be towering above her,” Santiago said. “And the force that he used not only broke the knife, but he managed to injure himself on his dominant hand, the hand that he would have had the knife in.”

Winograd pushed back on the prosecution’s narrative that the meeting was not planned.

“The theory that he went and found a random person and randomly went into her room doesn’t hold up,” Winograd said.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the judge ultimately rejected the defense argument, deciding there was probable cause that Sydnor killed Bautista.

Judge Okun also found Sydnor too dangerous to release, citing Sydnor’s eight prior convictions and that he was pending sentencing at the time of the crime, combined with the nature of the crime at hand. His next hearing is in September.

Even after the new evidence presented Friday, however, it remains unclear how Sydnor got inside Room 116 of the Ivy City Hotel. The defense attorney pointed out that there was no damage to the door or any other signs of forced entry.

According to charging documents presented by prosecutors, after listening at the door, Sydnor leaned back and then stepped inside.

A spokesman for the Ivy City Hotel told 小萝莉影视 in a statement in April that, “All guest rooms are equipped with door viewers, door safety latches and modern, tamper-proof RFID locks with 1鈥� safety deadbolt,” which would lock when closed.

There is no evidence in the charging documents that the two knew each other, and there is no evidence Sydnor attempted to rob Bautista.

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PFAS, an abbreviation for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of synthetic, potentially harmful chemicals used in a wide variety of household products and industrial processes. They have been used since the 1940s in products that are heat and stain resistant and water and oil repellent.

Studies have linked PFAS exposure to increased cancer risk, developmental delays in children, damage to organs, increased cholesterol levels and reduced immune functions, .

In two lawsuits filed on behalf of the state against major chemical manufacturers, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown alleged that the companies knowingly marketed and sold products that forever contaminated the state and its residents.

One lawsuit addresses what’s commonly referred to as firefighting foam, also used by the military and at industrial facilities, which contains PFAS.

The second suit aims at consumer products that could connect the user with PFAS. The lawsuit claims that even after items are trashed, they continued to leak chemicals into Maryland’s landfills, wastewater treatment facilities and general environment.

“Protecting the health and well-being of Marylanders and the environment in which we live and raise our families is one of my top priorities,鈥� Brown said . 鈥淎ccess to safe drinking water, a clean environment, and the precious natural resources of Maryland will not be jeopardized by those who put profits above public health and safety. These corporations must pay to clean up the damage and be held accountable for the harms they have caused.”

Both lawsuits alleged that the companies knew the dangers associated with products containing PFAS many decades ago, but they failed to alert the state and public.

Maryland joins Rhode Island and other states that have taken similar actions.

The EPA last March proposed the first federal limits on harmful 鈥渇orever chemicals鈥� in drinking water, The Associated Press reported.

Last December, 3M said it would phase out the manufacturing of 鈥渇orever chemicals鈥� and try to get them out of all their products within two years.

“While PFAS can be safely made and used, we also see an opportunity to lead in a rapidly evolving external regulatory and business landscape to make the greatest impact for those we serve,” 3M chairman and chief executive officer Mike Roman said . “This action is another example of how we are positioning 3M for continued sustainable growth by optimizing our portfolio, innovating for our customers, and delivering long-term value for our shareholders.”

DuPont also noted commitments to eliminate the use of “long-chain PFAS” by the end of 2019, stop purchasing firefighting foams that have these chemical compounds by the end of 2021 and continue to share progress toward reducing PFAS use.

In 2021, DuPont agreed to share the $4 billion settlement costs for the use of “forever chemicals” with company spinoffs Chemours and Corveta Reach. The settlement resolved 95 cases and unfiled matters in the Ohio case.

In response to our request for comment, 3M spokesman Grant Thompson responded with the following statement.

“3M acted responsibly in connection with products containing PFAS – including AFFF (aqueous film-forming foam) – and will vigorously defend its record of environmental stewardship,” Thompson said.

小萝莉影视 reached out to DuPont for comment on the lawsuit and did not hear back.

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The ruling is a win for Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, who has been fighting to expose how he says the school district mishandled the incidents.

Loudoun County Circuit Court Judge James P. Fischer ordered the county school system to turn over its investigation to prosecutors within seven days.

The judge agreed with prosecutors from the Miyares’ office that the internal report on the 2021 sexual assaults and rape on school grounds was not protected under attorney-client privilege 鈥� noting that then-Superintendent Scott Ziegler gave the perception that any findings from the independent investigation were for the public’s benefit.

In a statement, Miyares’ spokeswoman Victoria LaCivita said in part, “We appreciate the courts time and attention to this matter.”

A grand jury indicted Ziegler and schools spokesman Wayde Byard in connection with what it called “a lack of openness” in its handling of the incidents.

In a statement, Ziegler said he supported the release the internal investigation.

“The time for transparency and healing is long past, and I am perplexed why the LCSB voted on multiple occasions to keep the report secret,” Ziegler said. “As I have maintained, releasing the report was never my decision. As the events unfolded after the report was provided to the LCSB, I came to strongly believe that the Blankenship & Keith Report should be released to the public.”

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On his last working day on the job, D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee reflected back on his more than three decades on the force, acknowledging the personal toll being D.C.’s top cop takes and why he feels he’s leaving this chapter of his career on his own terms.

Last month, Contee surprised just about everyone in public safety when the mayor announced he was leaving to work with the FBI as a new assistant director of its Office of Partner Engagement. Contee joined the DC Police Department as a 17-year-old cadet and rose through the ranks under multiple administrations and other chiefs.

“Interestingly enough, there were people back then who’d say, ‘You’re going to be chief one day!'” Contee told 小萝莉影视 in an exit interview. “No, really, people said that. And I just wanted to be a sergeant!”

Contee said as a “kid coming from Carver Terrace” 鈥� a neighborhood in Northeast D.C. 鈥� he was proud to make it on the force. “And then be able to make it to a sergeant,” he added. “Like, that was like the high for me,” Contee said.

Still, there were points in his career he considered leaving the department, specifically in the 1990s under Chief Charles Ramsey when crime in the city was particularly high. Now, he sits in that same position and is ready to hang up his uniform for the opportunity of a lifetime.

“It feels awesome. It really does. You know, I’ve dedicated my life, to public service to the citizens of the District of Columbia, being a kid from the city,” he said. “I mean, that is a great honor. And now, to be able to transition to something different 鈥� it feels great,” he said.

Contee believes his new position as a deputy director with the FBI will be easier on his family and allow him to use his experience to improve the bureau’s understanding of local policing. The new job will also allow Contee some work-life balance.

“To be perfectly honest … the weight of the role and responsibility as chief of police of any major city police department, you know, it’s a great weight to carry, it really is.

He pointed to the “toll that being in this role 鈥� and being on a bubble all the time 鈥� that it takes on you” and also the impact on his family.

“My daughter is going off to college, and my son, he’s 10 years of age,” Contee said. “And he wants to see more of his dad, not less of his dad,” Contee said.

Contee plans to take a family trip with his son and family to Florida and enjoy the Memorial Day weekend before beginning his new position.

“My heart will always be here. But I know when I hear those sirens, it’s never because of a good thing. So to understand and be able to detach from that a little bit 鈥� that’s not a bad thing,” he said.

The mayor named Executive Assistant Chief Ashan Benedict to serve as interim chief until a new chief is recruited and approved by the D.C. Council.

“She wants a leader and she wants a crime fighter,” Contee said, about what qualities D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is looking for in a new leader. “And those are two great qualities in any police chief. I would add … that you want a police chief who is empathetic and you want a police chief who is compassionate for people. I think those are great qualities. And if you get that combination, I think you have a person 鈥� who may not be liked by everybody 鈥� but I certainly think will bring a level of integrity to the position,” Contee said of his successor.

His last official day with the city is June 3.

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Arlington County, Virginia, is set on improving its resources for those in a mental health crisis. County officials cut the ribbon on a new crisis center meant to reduce the role police and hospitals play in a mental health emergency.

If law enforcement is called to help in a mental health crisis, oftentimes there is nowhere for emergency responders to take a patient other than the hospital.

“You’re on a gurney, it’s cold, it is not trauma-informed. It’s really a stressful place to be under any circumstance. But imagine if you are hearing voices and you’re paranoid,” said聽Deborah Warren, the executive director of Arlington’s new .

It’s set up to house patients placed under an emergency custody order, offering them a quiet space to talk and de-escalate. It also features an in-house nurse to write prescriptions, if needed.

“We’re currently getting about 15 walk-ins a week or about 60 a month, and we expect that number to really skyrocket with 988 being marketed this summer,” Warren said during the ribbon cutting.

Referring to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, Warren expects the center will be in demand as more people learn of the resources available for those experiencing mental health emergencies. She thanked the dozens of county employees who saw the project through, despite being denied a state grant to get it off the ground.

“It shouldn’t be that families (or) individuals have to struggle with figuring out where to go. We are creating a space with the support that individuals need, so they can come here and get what they need, not divert them to the hospital,” said Warren.

Family and friends can also drop off patients, not just law enforcement, she noted.

“This is something that our community has to address in a way that is both compassionate, thoughtful, but also aggressively,” Arlington County Board Member Christian Dorsey said ahead of issuing a proclamation.

He proclaimed May as Mental Health Awareness Month in the county.

“[This] is about making sure we don’t continue the mistakes of the past, of thinking about mental health and behavioral disorders is something sort of to be hidden from public view, but that we achieve success when we embrace it, and bring all of our best to talking about it openly,” said Dorsey.

The center is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and is located near the county’s Health and Human Services department.

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Although the COVID pandemic state of emergency has technically ended, investigators are saying they’re seeing fraudulent COVID test kits arriving on doorsteps across Maryland.

Medicare coverage for at-home COVID-19 tests ended last week, but the agency said that beneficiaries have been complaining of tests showing up to their home, sometimes by the dozens, and that it could indicate someone is using their Medicare information to bill the federal government.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General posted , advising seniors not to give out their Medicare number, as it can be billed for procedures, tests, and even COVID test kits.

If you think you may have received a kit you didn’t order, report it to your local .

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In a silent courtroom, Wilson’s grandmother Pandora Wilson gasped, caught off guard when she realized she was looking at a photo of her granddaughter’s cleaned chest wound from the rifle round that prosecutors said “eviscerated her heart.”

The photo was part of a two-day presentation wrapping up the prosecution’s evidence against the six men charged in connection with the July 2018 shooting: Quentin Michals, Marquell Cobbs, Isaiah Murchison, Gregory Taylor, Darrise Jeffers and Qujuan Thomas.

All six men are all facing charges in the shooting that killed the girl and wounded four others, including her older sister Nyjhay Lewis, who was 18 at the time. Each defendant has two attorneys, and in an uncommon situation at DC Superior Court, they are all being tried together, in the same courtroom. The second group of people charged in connection with the shooting is set to have their trial begin on May 30.

The defendants, who have nicknames like DF Cutta, Gizzle, Stello, Moneygam, and Q, are all from the Wellington Park neighborhood in Southeast D.C., which prosecutors say is a critical reason the retaliatory shooting happened. Prosecutors have said the spray of some 50 bullets in the courtyard of Clay Terrace was motivated by perceived “beefs” between neighborhood gangs.

“It has been five years … it is time now that each of them owns up and reaches Judgement Day for what they’ve done. It’s time to hold them accountable for nonsense on the internet rising to this level of violence,” prosecutor Laura Bach told jurors.

However, in presenting their closing arguments to the jury, attorneys for two of the defendants leaned into the prosecution’s lack of DNA evidence linking the defendants to the shooting.

“Isaiah didn’t get in that car and the government can’t prove that he got in that car. Isaiah did not go to Clay Terrace that day,” said Isaiah Murchison’s attorney, Elizabeth Weller.

Weller and Errin Scialpi, who represents defendant Quentin Michals, said the voluminous circumstantial evidence presented by U.S. attorneys tracking the online slights and conversations between crew members, as well as videos of the group singing violent rap lyrics, doesn’t amount to proof beyond a reasonable doubt that they participated in a murder.

“Do not trust their interpretation,” Scialpi told the jurors of the prosecution’s presentation of the evidence.

The jury is expected to get the case for deliberations on Tuesday.

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It’s a popular nightlife spot in the District. H Street Northeast has a full-blown restaurant scene, and some of them have been hit by a string of burglaries.

D.C. police investigators are using community videos, in part, to find who is burglarizing restaurants and small businesses along H Street, said Chief Robert Contee.

“I know that some people are only touched by, you know, when we talk about violent crime things, but if you’re a small business owner, and you put your life savings into a business, and someone is coming in there and stealing things … I mean, that hits personal for you,” Contee said.

Just a few doors down from the press conference where Contee and Mayor Muriel Bowser spoke about her new legislation to reduce crime in the city, sits the , which was burglarized. Keem Hughley is a part-owner of the H Street market-style eatery.

“I mean, it’s tough, especially for restaurants. It’s a grueling business. So the last thing you want somebody to do is kind of [steal], especially for Maketto, that gives so much to the community,” Hughley said.

Despite the risk, he opened his African diaspora-inspired restaurant Bronze six months ago, noting that crime is not just an H Street problem.

“It’s happening at Le Diplomate, you know, and they’re still busy. So we’re all dealing with the problem, but I think if we work together, we’ll figure out a way,” Hughley said.

“People everywhere are worried about being out in their communities. And I get that, I get that. But I want people to not worry about H Street. H Street is a safe place,” said local ANC Commissioner Mike Velasquez.

Business owners along the corridor agree that risk is part of doing business in a big city, but they still hope the police can get the one person who Contee believes is responsible for most of the overnight break-ins.

“I think H street is always going to be a street that people patronize and for the immediate shock, and then it kind of wears off that that day or two, it’s just we keep having to happen over and over again. But it’s still a beautiful block. I say every day like, ‘Another day on H. Let’s do it,'” Hughley said with a smile.

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