An ABC news anchor said Monday that crime has become a daily reality in the nation’s capital.
ABC News anchor Kyra Phillips said that while D.C. crime numbers may be falling, there is more to crime than an abstract discussion about statistics. Crime in the nation’s capital leaped into the spotlight after President Donald Trump said that the National Guard was being activated and that the Metropolitan Police Department would be put under federal control to improve public safety.
“I can tell you firsthand here in downtown D.C. where we work, right here around our bureau, just in the past six months, you know, there were two people shot, one person died, literally two blocks down here from the bureau,” Phillips said in a video posted to X.
“It was within the last two years that I actually was jumped walking just two blocks down from here,” she said.
ABC ANCHOR: “Here in Downtown D.C., where we work, right here around our bureau, just in the past 6 months, there were 2 people shot…Literally, 2 blocks away.”
“I actually was jumped walking just 2 blocks down from here.”
“This morning, my coworker’s car was stolen.” pic.twitter.com/W32oufHHC7
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) August 11, 2025
“And then, just this morning, one of my co-workers said her car was stolen a block away from the bureau,” she said.
“So we can talk about the numbers going down, but crime is happening every single day because we’re all experiencing it firsthand while working and living down here,” Phillips continued.
During an interview with U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, Phillips elaborated on her personal experience, according to the New York Post.
Have you ever traveled to Washington?
“So, I was jumped just two blocks here from the ABC bureau. It was not a minor, though,” she said, adding that “it’s happened to a lot of people in our building, sadly.”
“He was homeless and half-dressed — clearly wasn’t in his clear mind,” Phillips said.
Phillips said it was fight or flight time, and she was not running.
“It was scary as hell, I’m not going to lie, but I fought back. I didn’t see any weapons in his hands. I felt like it was my only choice,” Phillips said.
An editorial from the New York Post noted that “Washington, DC’s political class may scream in fury at Team Trump’s takeover of policing, but we suspect most district residents will be relieved: Regular people put public safety first.”
Are DC officials lying and massaging their crime statistics? It’s as dishonest as DEI departments at universities renaming themselves offices of community engagement while secretly hoping to continue their discrimination.
“Washington, DC’s 2024 murder rate was 27.54 per 100,00… pic.twitter.com/JGUQmV2wbk
— Carol M. Swain, PhD (@carolmswain) August 12, 2025
“The city’s politicians have failed to do that, and the feds have a duty to act when the nation’s capital is unsafe,” the editorial board wrote, noting that a focus on overall crime numbers misses the point.
“Carjackings, for the record, are still triple the 2018 level, part of a grim wave of youth crime — yet city leaders have refused to get serious about stopping the violence,” the outlet noted.
It also added that “the US capital has more murders per capita than notorious Mexico City and Bogotá, Colombia. The homicide rate is six times New York City’s.”
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