Sunday, November 07, 2010

Lots Happening Last Night

To start the evening we had one opening (Red Palace), and one soft opening (the Atlas Room).

Later that night an employee of Capital City Diner was shot and injured when he pursued four youths who had stolen his backpack. Such shootings (involving robberies) are actually quite rare around here. Please send good thoughts Wade's way, and hope for a speedy recovery. Last I heard he was out of surgery and doing well.

25 comments:

Chuck said...

Hope that Wade is alright and that they catch the guys and throw the book at them, no one expects to get shot when they go to work at a restaurant.

Pretty crappy to rob a place the weekend they are donating part of their profits to charity.

Anonymous said...

Wait, was the diner robbed? Or was he robbed separate from the diner?

At any rate, this is awful news and I wish him a speedy recovery.

Matt Ashburn said...

Just to clarify: he was robbed at the end of his shift, apparently chased the suspects, & was shot about 2 blocks away from the diner. The diner wasn't robbed, but the little bastards that shot him did come into the diner last evening, so we have decent video of them.

I left the hospital this morning, and he was talking & recovering.

We're really shaken up by all of this, and appreciate your support. Please keep us, and especially Wade, in your thoughts.


Matt
Capital City Diner

P.S.: we were shaken up, so closed around 1am until 6am this morning. Some low-life crackhead (yes, he actually dropped some crack at the scene so I can say that) broke in last night while we were closed.

Matt Ashburn said...

@Chuck: I believe the suspects were juveniles (or at least some were), so there's likely no hope for "throwing the book at them" thanks to DC's revolving door/catch-and-release juvenile justice system.

Unknown said...

Wow the evil and opportunism in some people is simply amazing. I wish all well and Matts right if they were minors nothing will happen.

Anonymous said...

wont we at least know their names if they are convicted now?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/19/AR2010101907830.html

Hillman said...

Matt has a very valid point. Was just talking to a DC cop a week or so ago. He's actually thinking of leaving DC and being a cop elsewhere, as he says he's sick of re-arresting the same juveniles over and over again, then seeing them right back out.

He says it makes his job seem like a sad joke.

curmudgeon said...

And it's not going to change any time soon -- the idiots in this town just re-elected Phil Mendelson *again*. So the juvenile catch-and-release policy isn't going anywhere, because that's what people here want.

Alan Page said...

for god's sake, people, stop chasing suspects...first the dc9 situation, now this...let the police handle it...

Anonymous said...

Stanon Sez:
I wish a speedy recovery to the injured employee.
i was at the diner for dinner that evening, around 730pm. there was something weird that evening about the young men just milling about on that block.
they seemed agitated against another small group that went by during the hour i was there that night.
wish MPD would patrol that area a bit to show some presence.

JusticeDesserts said...

Stop chasing suspects? I say the opposite. One of these days I'd like to read about some little miscreants robbing someone and then running straight into a group of concerned citizens that teach them a real lesson. I'm glad to hear the guys from that club that beat some sense into that jackass that threw a brick through their window had the charges dropped against them.

Anonymous said...

I hope these little shits are at least 18 yrs old

Anonymous said...

soul searcher said...
for god's sake, people, stop chasing suspects...first the dc9 situation, now this...let the police handle it...
-------------------------

for god sakes people, stop robbing and shooting people. let no one handle that.

Anonymous said...

DC has to get tougher with the kids around the city. I have been in neighborhood PSA meetings where I was chastized for even suggesting that juvenile's names get released after they are convicted of felonies (which a bill has since been passed to do just that I believe).

A few vocal members of the audience told me that I was going to ruin any hopes of their rehabilitation and suggested I was demonizing the children, etc, etc.

Until we realize that 14-17 year olds do make rational decisions and should be held accountable for their crimes, this city will continue to be plagued by children thinking there are no consequences to their actions.

D

Anonymous said...

I look forward to the day when all of these hood rats are weeded out and pushed out of the neighborhood.
Seriously, has there ever been a neighborhood in DC that turned around for the better because of good rehab programs, education/voc programs etc? I'm guessing no. The answer is to weed these punks out and let some other people deal with them wherever they end up

Anonymous said...

And it's not going to change any time soon -- the idiots in this town just re-elected Phil Mendelson *again*. So the juvenile catch-and-release policy isn't going anywhere, because that's what people here want.

And let's not forget Tommy Wells, too! He too was a backer of the Juvenile Justice Improvement Amendment Act of 2008, which allows the ultra liberal adult court judges to determine whether a youth should be tried as an adult rather than the prosecutors. The same Act allows extremely dangerous youth offenders to be transitioned into youth facilities rather than kept in adult jail so that they can have access to better "services".

Too bad Frozen Tropics readers think about street car tracks rather than criminal justice reform when it comes to voting...

Anonymous said...

One of these days I'd like to read about some little miscreants robbing someone and then running straight into a group of concerned citizens...

You should read about Deonte Rawlings, the kid that the cop capped for stealing his minibike. Or his brother George Rawlings, who got capped getting onto an H Street bus.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that Deonte's mother and father had both served jail time, his father with multiples for domestic abuse, drugs, etc. And that the Rawlings' other kids had spent time in the criminal justice system.

Yet when both kids were killed, the community poured out with emotion, the usual teddy bear/crying aunt/candle/flower ceremonies.

Anonymous said...

There seem to be a lot of complaints about the current juvenile justice system. Who has a better plan? Is there a better proposal or petition that concerned citizens can send to our reps (including Wells and Mendelson).

Public outcry worked with the streetcar when funding was cut, does the same interest exist in reforming the juvenile justice system? Or are we all just whining in the wilderness?

Anonymous said...

Whining in the wilderness? Does that mean they are wilderness animals instead of jungle animals?
tonyt
the pug

Anonymous said...

I hope that younge has a speedy recovery...On a lighter note. When is the exspected date of the Atlas Room opening ? Is it the same Chef that was part of Sonoma ?

Anonymous said...

to the idiot that claims dc9 staff "beat some sense into that guy" one terrible night... get your fucking facts straight. "that guy" died but charges were dropped because they could not be linked to his death. and his death hasn't even been ruled a murder.

and no one deserves to die for something like throwing a brick through a window. you are an idiot.

i wish wade the best and it's a shame any of this happened.

Anonymous said...

@tonyt - haha, we are going back to that again... Would you prefer shouting to the sea or complaining to a cliff?

But seriously, does anyone have a serious, workable proposal to fix this issue? It is nice to be able to complain about the council, but is there a workable proposal that we can all support?

Mo said...

A good start would be to screen out deadbeat welfare recepients. With the money saved we could provide some useful training/education to the poorer people of DC so they can get jobs that will keep them off welfare and out of trouble.
Also, an overhaul of the welfare system wouldn't be such a bad idea too. The system needs to be changed so that they do not reward you with more money when you sh*t out more kids. I'm not sure if it is still done this way but back when I was in college in the 90's that's how it was. It makes no sense to me.
I don't know why this isn't talked about enough but I seriously think that this plays a major role in the problems we're seeing in the poorer neighborhoods of DC. How do you get unfit mothers to stop having kids they cannot care for? Cut off the money source. A lot of these people are having kids just for the sake of getting a bigger welfare check in the mail.

Brian White said...

"and no one deserves to die for something like throwing a brick through a window. you are an idiot."

What do they deserve?

Davy Crockett's Hat said...

@mo - Good to see that your copy and paste skills are working