Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.metro From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Gunfire replaces crickets Date: Wed, 18 Nov 92 16:10:35 EST Message-ID: \SE B;METROPOLITAN \HD Gunfire replaces crickets \SH Sound of crime hits Alexandria \BY Kristan Metzler \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES When William Tate was growing up in northeast Old Town Alexandria four decades ago, the chirping of crickets was the only sound he heard when he played outside with his friends past dusk. But times have changed. Mr. Tate's children have to come home early - before the familiar sound of gunfire starts. "When I was growing up, we would fight, but with our fists, and then we would go home. Now, you fight and you get shot," said Mr. Tate, 48, standing on his front porch early yesterday afternoon while neighbors gathered in the street to talk about the previous night's shooting. Alexandria police said an 18-year-old man, whom neighbors identified as Isaac Jones, was shot in the head a block away from Mr. Tate's home in the Old Town housing project known locally as the Berg. About 7:45 p.m., a police officer was flagged down by a group of people who said a man had been shot near the intersection of Princess and North Royal streets. The victim was taken by helicopter to the MedSTAR trauma unit of the Washington Hospital Center, where he remained in critical condition yesterday. Two days earlier and a block away, an 18-year-old woman was shot while standing across the street from two men who were fighting. One of the men pulled out a handgun and fired several shots - including one that tore through the woman's back. Mr. Tate's neighborhood is not alone in facing a sudden wave of crimes. A rash of robberies, attempted robberies and shootings were reported across the city. In less than two weeks, five shootings, nearly a dozen robberies and several assaults occurred in the city. Police said they normally see a wave of robberies closer to Christmas. "This seems earlier than usual to have this number of offenses on any given night," said Officer Mark Bergin. "They are all over the city, and they are all different." Last week, a cabdriver and a man walking home from the Braddock Road Metro station were shot in attempted robberies. Police said the crimes appear related. Both men were released yesterday from area hospitals. Officials from Alexandria's Redevelopment and Housing Authority requested yesterday morning that Police Chief Charles Samarra beef up foot patrols in the Berg in response to the recent shootings. Two off-duty police officers already work for the housing authority to patrol the public housing complexes, said Archie Alexander, acting executive director of the housing authority. Officer Bergin, a police spokesman, said police targeted the area since June, when the department received several calls from residents complaining of people hanging out on street corners and selling drugs. But only a month later, Darrell Ferguson, 19, was gunned down a few hundred yards from the site of Monday night's shooting. His death came three months after the city's first killing of the year, in the 800 block of North Alfred Street in another public housing complex. "There's not too much you can do. Police have other areas to patrol. Even if police are here, they just can't be everywhere all the time," said Berg resident Michael Benson, 18. Others believe more can be done. "It wasn't that bad when I moved in here in 1989. Now, people from the other end of town come here and cause problems. Kids can't even play out here. There aren't even any playgrounds," said Darnell Tyler, 28, who has two nephews that live in the area. Francis Ford, 41, keeps her children inside, but sometimes even that doesn't even seem safe enough, she said. Her family was watching the movie "Friday the 13th" Friday night when she heard the popping sound of gunfire just outside her front door. She turned off her lights and pulled her children to the floor. "It's not the first time," she said yesterday as a small boy pushed his way out of the door while she clutched the back of his shirt. The Berg shootings occurred near where Alexandria police Cpl. Charles Hill was killed March 22, 1989, in a drug-related shooting. The killing of the police officer prompted the Alexandria City Council to pass measures aimed at ending drug dealing in the city's public housing projects. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM