Bowser Condemns Vandalism Of DC Churches By Proud Boys

WASHINGTON, DC — Mayor Muriel Bowser criticized members of white nationalist groups, such as the Proud Boys, who she said vandalized at least four District churches over the weekend. The groups were in town as part of Saturday's Stop the Steal protest in support of President Donald Trump.

"We saw, as in previous months, people who came to our city who were bent on violence against others," Bowser said during a Monday morning press briefing. "We know two of our churches had their Black Lives Matter signs destroyed. And to see the video of that footage on social media is shocking and disturbing and certainly maddening, and certainly a violation of our values as D.C. residents."

The mayor echoed the observation voiced by others that seeing a Black Lives Matter banner from a Black church burnt in the street is reminiscent of violent acts of racism seen before in U.S. history.

"It is disgusting and vile and should be condemned by all Americans," she said.

The District government has reached out to the four churches that were vandalized, and the Metropolitan Police Department will continue to investigate the acts as hate crimes.

"We anticipated unrest as a result of the anti-Trump and pro-Trump groups who were coming to the city, and we had just that," MPD Chief Peter Newsham said during the briefing. "It was very similar to what we saw a few weeks ago at the Million MAGA March, with some folks that were intent on getting into physical confrontations with others."

Over the weekend, MPD had its Joint Operations Command Center activated, with support from D.C. fire and EMS personnel.

On Friday, MPD made five arrests at two separate scenes, one arrest in the 800 block of Vermont and four in 1500 block of K Street.

Between 10:45 a.m. Saturday and 2:45 a.m. Sunday, MPD made 33 arrests:

• 11 charges of simple assault
• 10 charges of assault on a police officer
• 1 charge of assault with a dangerous weapon, a knife.
• 6 charges of disorderly conduct
• 2 charges of weapons violations
• 2 charges of release violations
• 1 charge of resisting arrest

Those arrested were 26 men and seven women. Six were from the District, seven from Maryland and three from Virginia. Fourteen of those arrested gave home addresses in New York, California, Tennessee, Arizona, Ohio, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Utah, Florida, Minnesota and Texas.

Eight MPD officers were injured over the weekend. One officer was seriously injured after being hit in the face with an object; he suffered multiple fractures and a laceration to his face.

Demonstrators caused damage at least four churches in the District, including Mount Vernon Place United Methodist, Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal, Asbury United Methodist and Luther Place Memorial.

"With regards to the destruction of property at the churches, that type of thing will not be tolerated here in the District of Columbia," Newsham said.

MPD is asking the public's help in identifying people in connection with destruction of property that took place around 6 p.m. Saturday in the 900 block of 11th Street Northwest. Police released photos showing people taking a banner from a church and lighting the banner on fire.

MPD seeks suspects in a Destruction of Property offense that occurred on 12/12/20 in the 900 blk of 11th St, NW. MPD is investigating this offense as potentially being motivated by hate or bias. Have info? Call (202) 727-9099/text 50411 @FBIWFOhttps://t.co/5b8xfeu3AG pic.twitter.com/y2uP0XurE4
— DC Police Department (@DCPoliceDept) December 14, 2020

Detectives from MPD 2nd District arrested a D.C. man in connection with an assault with a dangerous weapon offense that occurred Saturday night, according to a police release.

The man was involved in an altercation with the victims around 9 p.m. in the 500 block of 11th Street, Northwest, police said. The argument became physical, and the man pulled out a knife and stabbed four victims, police said. Responding officers apprehended the man. The victims were treated a nearby hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.

MPD arrested Corey Nielsen, 39, of Robbinsdale, Minnesota, and charged him with simple assault.

Police also arrested Phillip Johnson, 29, of Northeast, D.C., and charged him with assault with a dangerous weapon (knife).

MPD released photos of other people they said were wanted in connection with this case:

MPD announces an additional arrest & seeks additional suspects in an Assault with a Dangerous Weapon (Knife) offense that occurred on 12/12/20 in the 500 blk of 11th St, NW.

Have info? Call (202) 727-9099/text 50411

Full Release: https://t.co/8DsMNptmuF pic.twitter.com/vcjqI57Pp8
— DC Police Department (@DCPoliceDept) December 14, 2020

Police are asking people who can identify the people in the photos to call 202-727-9099 or text 50411. In partnership with MPD, the FBI Washington Field Office is offering an additional $2,000, which brings the reward total to $3,000 to anyone who can identify the people or provide information about these incidents.

During the press briefing, Newsham defended the actions of MPD officers in response to the events of the weekend.

"We anticipated that there were going to be conflicts coming up this weekend," he said. "What we do at the police department is we try to prevent that from occurring. We try to be there. We try to get between opposing groups, particularly when it results in physical confrontations."

The chief also denied that MPD was treating the Proud Boys more favorably than other demonstrators.

"It's very difficult when a confrontation like that occurs to determine who's on what side," Newsham said. "The police get involved. They break it up. If people can be appropriately charged, then they're placed under arrest. I think it's unfortunate if somebody feels like somebody was treated differently, but there was no intention by the police department to treat anybody any differently from anybody else. Our intention was to prevent folks from getting hurt."

When conflict did occur, Newsham said, it appeared to involve mutual combatants, with large numbers of people identifying themselves as Proud Boys.

"I don't think we've had those types of numbers in the District of Columbia before," he said. "We had smaller numbers, in my estimation, of folks who I would describe as anti-Trump groups. It probably was a ratio of about 7 or 6 to 1."

Despite MPD's efforts to maintain safety during the demonstrations, a critical stabbing occurred in the 500 block of 11th Street, Northwest, where a person nearly lost their life, according to Newsham.

"These Proud Boys, who are avowed white nationalists, have been called to stand up against a fair and legal election, and that's what they're doing," Bowser said. "We can talk about police tactics, but what we really need to be talking about is how, as a country, we are allowing people, Proud Boys to pundits to members of Congress, to continue to speak against a fair election. That's what it is. This is a symptom of this hateful rhetoric, anti-science noise, and people who refuse to accept the results of a fair American election."