District of Columbia

Shooting of gay man highlights concern over rising D.C. gun violence

‘A sense of growing lawlessness, increasing crime’

Published

4 years ago

December 15, 2021

A D.C. police report says Larry Henderson was shot by an unidentified suspect outside the Petworth Market at 3715 Georgia Ave., N.W. (Washington Blade photo by Lou Chibbaro, Jr.)

A gay man was shot twice in the hip and upper leg on Saturday morning, Dec. 11, while standing in front of a store next to the Georgia Avenue-Petworth Metro station in a development that his boyfriend says makes him yet another victim of an alarming rise in gun violence in the nation’s capital.

A D.C. police incident report says Larry Darnell Henderson, 36, was “hit twice in the lower extremities” by shots fired by an unidentified male suspect who fired nine shots into a crowd where Henderson was standing on Georgia Avenue, N.W., just before 10 a.m. on Dec. 11.

“Suspect 1 fled the scene northbound on the 3700 block of Georgia Ave. N.W., then turning eastbound into the 6700 block of Quincy St., N.W. where he was last seen,” the police report says.

Kevin McDonnell, who said he and Henderson are a couple, told the Blade that Henderson told him the male shooter initially pointed his gun at Henderson’s groin, prompting Henderson to turn his body around, which resulted in his being struck by bullets in the hip and leg.

According to McDonnell, Henderson told him the shooter did not say anything and did not attempt to rob him. But because the two men frequently patronize the stores and shops surrounding that Metro station and sometimes exhibit affection toward one another, McDonnell said he believes the shooter may have perceived Henderson to be a partner in a gay relationship and targeted him for a hate crime.

“It’s no accident that that guy pointed his gun at his genitalia,” McDonnell said. “And had LD not pivoted it would be a different story,” said McDonnell, who refers to Henderson by his nickname LD.

The police report specifically says the incident is not listed as a suspected hate crime. McDonnell disputes that designation.

When asked by the Blade if police investigators were looking for a possible video of the shooting incident from nearby surveillance cameras, a police spokesperson said if a photo of the suspect is obtained from a video camera and if police seek the public’s help in identifying and locating the suspect “we will release it.”

McDonnell said Henderson was taken by ambulance to MedStar Washington Hospital Center, where he underwent surgery. He remained at the hospital under treatment as of late Tuesday.

LGBTQ activists, meanwhile, have said they are not aware of any information to indicate that LGBTQ people are being singled out for gun violence or other types of crime to a degree greater than the general public.

A D.C. police spokesperson and the supervisor of the department’s LGBT Liaison Unit, Sgt. Nicole Brown, didn’t immediately respond to a message from the Blade asking whether officers assigned to the LGBT Liaison Unit have noticed an increase in crimes against LGBTQ people in the District during the past two years compared to previous years.

A police source familiar with the LGBT Liaison Unit, who spoke on condition of not being identified because the source was not authorized to speak to the media, said there was no “clear indication that LGBT people are being targeted any more than anyone else.”

D.C. police statistics for hate crimes posted on the police website show that for 2021, as of Sept. 30, there were a total of 29 reported hate crimes based on the victim’s sexual orientation and eight hate crimes reported based on the victim’s gender identity or expression.

Those figures compare to a total of 38 sexual orientation or anti-gay hate crimes reported in the full year of 2020 and 60 in 2019. The police data show that in 2020 there were 27 reported hate crimes based on the victim’s gender identity or status as a transgender person and the same number of 27 for that category reported in 2019.

Law enforcement observers have pointed out that the rise in violent crime in most of the nation’s large cities, including D.C., has occurred during the COVID pandemic and the COVID-related public health restrictions placed on many businesses and citizens across the country.

D.C. police data show that there was a 19 percent increase in homicides in the District in 2020 compared to 2019 – a jump from 166 to 198. As of Dec. 14, of this year, the D.C. police data show homicides rose so far in 2021 by 9 percent to a total of 212 cases as of Dec. 14.

This year’s homicide total of 212 as of Dec. 14 marked the first time the number of murders in the city has surpassed 200 since 2003, a development that has alarmed city officials and prompted D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser last week to announce the city will expand its violence prevention and mitigation programs. Earlier this year, the mayor declared gun violence in the city a “public health crisis.”

As of that same Dec. 14, 2021, date, the D.C. police data show the crime of assault with a dangerous weapon rose by 3 percent over 2020 – from 1,581 to 1,605, robberies rose by 1 percent – 1,913 to 1,930, and the combined number of “violent crime” rose by 2 percent over 2020 from 3,855 to 3,919.

The 2021 data show that the number of burglaries declined by 4 percent so far in 2021 compared to 2020 from 1,136 to 1,094. The number of motor vehicle thefts rose by 9 percent from 3,068 in 2020 to 3,348 as of Dec. 14, 2021. The crime of “theft from auto” rose by 5 percent so far this year, from 7,897 to 8,307.

And the crime listed by D.C. police as “Theft/Other,” which is the second highest category of crime in the city, remained statistically the same but rose slightly from 10,409 in 2020 to 10,430 in 2021.

The police data show that the combined total of “property crime” in the city rose by 3 percent from 22,523 in 2020 to 23,182 as of Dec. 14, 2021.

The combined total of all instances of crime, the police data show, rose by 3 percent from 26,378 to 27,101 in 2021.

Although D.C.’s overall crime rate has not increased as much as it has in other cities, several high-profile incidents in parts of the city not accustomed to the shootings that residents of other parts of the city say they are accustomed to have alarmed businesses and nearby residents.

In July, two men were shot and wounded outside the popular strip of restaurants on 14th Street, N.W., where offices for Whitman-Walker Health are located and close to the Washington Blade’s former office. A short time later, a shooting outside Washington Nationals Stadium prompted fans inside the stadium to duck for cover and prompted demands for police and the city to do more to address gun violence.

The two high-profile shootings also drew attention to disagreements between Bowser and several members of the D.C. Council over whether or how much the fiscal year 2022 budget for the police department should be increased. Bowser and many community activists, including those in Wards 7 and 8, where the murder rate is highest, expressed concern that the number of police officers in the city is currently the lowest it has been in nearly 20 years due to retirements and attrition.

The Council in August voted to raise the police budget by $5 million, a little less than half of the $11 million that Bowser requested. The mayor has said the additional funds were needed to hire more officers to address the gun violence “crisis.”

Representatives of many of the city’s nightlife businesses, including restaurants and bars, have also expressed concern that legislation approved by the D.C. Council in recent years to place restrictions on how police make arrests of juveniles and people suffering from mental health problems have resulted in small businesses receiving less police protection against crimes targeting their customers and employees.

One law that some have objected to is the Neighborhood Engagement Achieves Results Amendment, or NEAR Act, of 2016. The law, among other things, requires that D.C. police coordinate with the city’s Department of Behavioral Health and Department of Human Services to arrange for civilian mental health clinicians and outreach specialists to join police officers in responding to crimes or disturbances caused by individuals identified as having mental illness, being homeless, or having substance abuse issues.

Although those raising concerns over the NEAR Act say they fully support providing mental health services for people who need those services, they say police in some cases have declined to respond to calls for “less serious” crimes such as “snatch-and-grab” purse and cell phone snatchings from people seated in outdoor dining areas at restaurants.

Some of the businesses have said police have expressed reluctance to respond if the suspected perpetrator has a mental health problem during evening hours when the civilian mental health experts from the Department of Behavioral Health or other city agencies are not working evening hours.

“A sense of growing lawlessness, increasing crime, and random violence is a much-discussed concern among local small business restaurant, bar, and retail store operators and workers throughout the city,” said Mark Lee, coordinator of the D.C. Nightlife Council, a local trade association representing nightlife, hospitality, and entertainment businesses in D.C.

Lee said representatives of these businesses have met recently with D.C. Council members and D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee to inform them that safety concerns by employees have begun to harm businesses and negatively impact commercial sections of the city.

“MPD leadership and rank-and-file officers, I think it’s fair to say, are as frustrated as many city residents and local enterprises have become about a D.C. Council majority that pretends it is reassigning parts of public safety and law enforcement to other government entities that are understaffed, undertrained, and largely unavailable to respond to incidents and problems,” Lee said.

He noted that because the D.C. police force is the smallest it has been in 20 years, despite population increases, “officers are stretched thin working overtime shifts.”

D.C. Council member Robert White (D-At-Large), who is running for mayor in the 2022 Democratic primary, is among the Council members who have said addressing the underlying causes of crime in the city is the only way the city can succeed in ending gun violence and other serious crimes.

“The reality is unless we start to solve these underlying issues more, crime is going to go up,” White told the Blade at a holiday event sponsored by the LGBTQ group Capital Stonewall Democrats on Monday night. “But also, once people are incarcerated, if we rehabilitate them better, crime is going to go down,” White said.

“So, being a police officer is an incredibly difficult job,” he said. “And I guess they believe – some believe – that if we lock up more people for longer periods of time, that’s going to make us safe,” White said. “And I think that fundamentally isn’t true. There has to be consequences when people commit crimes. But we can do a better job rehabilitating people,” he said.

“We can do a better job of getting to the people before they get engaged in crime. And we can do a better job of restoring the relationship between communities and the police,” White said.

Bowser and city officials working in her administration have said both approaches are needed to address the gun violence problem, including at this time the hiring of more police officers. On Dec. 9, the mayor announced plans to significantly increase the city’s ongoing violence prevention and interruption programs. Among other things, Bowser said the city will award $1.1 million in grants to community-based organizations working on violence interruption programs, especially those targeting young people.

Del McFadden, director of the D.C.Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, which coordinates violence prevention efforts, said the number of “interrupters” will increase from 30 to 80. He said their work would expand to more neighborhoods, including Shaw in Ward 2, Congress Park in Ward 8, and Edgewood in Ward 5 for a total of 25 “priority” neighborhoods where gun violence has occurred.

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District of Columbia

Deon Jones speaks about D.C. Department of Corrections bias lawsuit settlement

Gay former corrections officer says harassment, discrimination began in 1993

Published

3 days ago

February 16, 2026

Lou Chibbaro Jr.

Deon Jones (Photo courtesy of the American Civil Liberties Union)

Deon Jones says he is pleased with the outcome of his anti-gay bias lawsuit against the D.C. Department of Corrections that ended after five years on Feb. 5 with the D.C. government paying him $500,000 in a settlement payment.

The lawsuit, filed on his behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union of D.C. and the international law firm WilmerHale, charged that Jones, a Department of Corrections sergeant, had been subjected to years of discrimination, retaliation, and a hostile work environment because of his identity as a gay man in clear violation of the D.C. Human Rights Act.

A statement released by the ACLU at the time the settlement was announced says Jones, “faced years of verbal abuse and harassment, from co-workers and incarcerated people alike, including anti-gay slurs, threats, and degrading treatment.”

The statement adds, “The prolonged mistreatment took a severe toll on Jones’s mental health, and he experienced depression, post-traumatic-stress disorder, and 15 anxiety attacks in 2021 alone.:

Jones said the harassment and mistreatment he encountered began in 1993, one year after he first began work at the Department of Corrections and continued for more than 25 years under six D.C. mayors, including current Mayor Muriel Bowser, who he says did not respond to his repeated pleas for help.

Each of those mayors, including Bowser, have been outspoken supporters of the LGBTQ community, but Jones says they did not intervene to change what he calls the homophobic “culture” at the Department of Corrections.

The Department of Corrections, through the Office of the D.C. Attorney General, which represents city agencies against lawsuits, and the mayor’s office, have so far declined to comment on the lawsuit and the half million-dollar settlement the city offered to Jones, who accepted it.

Among other things, the settlement agreement states that Jones would be required to resign from his job at the Department of Corrections. It also declares that “neither the parties’ agreement nor the District government’s offer to settle the case shall in any way be construed as an admission by the District that it or any of its current or former employees, acted wrongfully with respect to plaintiff or any other person, or that plaintiff has any rights.”

Scott Michelman, the D.C. ACLU’s legal director said that type of disclaimer is typical for parties that agree to settle a lawsuit like this. He said the city’s action to pay Jones a half million-dollar settlement “speaks louder than words.”

With that as a backdrop, Jones reflected on the settlement and what he says was his tumultuous 30-year career as an employee at the D.C. Department of Corrections in a Feb. 9 interview with the Washington Blade.

He and Michelman pointed out that Jones was placed on paid administrative leave in April 2022, one year after his lawsuit was filed. Among his upcoming plans, Jones told the Blade, is to publish a podcast that, among other things, will highlight the hardship he faced at the Department of Corrections and advocate for LGBTQ rights.

BLADE: What are your thoughts on this lawsuit settlement which appears very much in your favor?

JONES: That’s great. I’m happy. I’m glad to resign. It’s been a long time coming. It was the worst time it’s ever been. And I have advocated for the community for many, many years. And not only standing up for my rights but for the rights for others in the LGBTQ community.

And I’m just tired now. And my podcast will start soon. And I will continue to advocate for the community.

BLADE: Can you tell a little about that and when it will begin?

JONES: Once in April, once everything is closed my podcast will be starting. And that’s Deon’s Chronicle and Reveal. Yes, my own podcast.

BLADE: Since we have reported your attorney saying you have been on administrative leave since March of 2022, some in the community might be interested in what you have been doing since that time. Did you get another job or were you just waiting for this case to be resolved?

JONES: I was waiting for this to be resolved. I couldn’t work. That would violate policy and procedures of the D.C. government. So, I could not get another job or anything else.

BLADE: You have said under administrative leave you were still getting paid. You were still able to live off of that?

JONES: Yes, I was able to. Yes, sir. I used to do a lot of overtime. As a zone lieutenant for many years, I have supervised over 250 officers. I’ve also supervised over 25,000 inmates in my 30 years.

BLADE: How many years have you been working for the Department of Corrections?

JONES: It’s 30 years all together. I started down at the Lorton facility. Six facilities — I’ve worked for past directors, deputy directors, internal affairs. I’ve done it all.

BLADE: Do you have any plans now other than doing the podcast?

JONES: Well, to just do my podcast and also to write my book and my memoir inside of the house of pain, the house of shame — what I’ve been through. When I start my podcast off it will be stories — Part 1 through Part 4. And I will go back to the Lorton days all the way up to now. When it first started was sexual harassment and discrimination back down at Lorton. And I mean this has just been the worst time around.

BLADE: So, did you first start your work at the Lorton Prison?

JONES: Yes, I was at the central facility, which was the program institution.

MICHELMAN: Just for context. You may remember this, but the Lorton facility was where D.C. incarcerated people were held. So, that was part of the D.C. Department of Corrections.

BLADE: Yes, and that was located in Lorton, Va., is that right?

JONES: Right.

BLADE: Didn’t that close and is the main incarceration facility is now in D.C. itself?

JONES: Yes. And that closed in 2001.

BLADE: I see. And is the main D.C. jail now at a site near the RFK Stadium site?

JONES: Yes, sir. And next-door is the correctional treatment facility as well.

BLADE: So, are you saying the harassment and other mistreatment against you began back when you were working at the Lorton facility?

JONES: At the Lorton central facility. And they used to flash me too. When I say flash me like the residents, the inmates were flashing. And they [the employees] were flashing.

BLADE: What do you mean by flashing?

JONES: They take their penis out and everything else. I mean the sexual harassment was terrible. And I came out then down there. And I continued to advocate for myself and to advocate for other people who I was told were being picked on as well.

BLADE: As best you can recall, where and what year did that happen?

JONES: That was back in 1993 in April of 1993.

BLADE: The mayor’s office has declined to comment on the settlement and payment the city is giving you. Yet they have always said they have a strong policy of nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people in D.C. government agencies. But do you think that was not carried out at the Department of Corrections?

JONES: That’s a blatant reason why — I had 13 anxiety attacks. It was so blatant. Can you imagine? On the airwaves or the walkie-talkies — everybody had a walkie talkie — the captains and the majors and everything. And you transmit it to the command center or something like that. When you finish someone gets on the air and calls you a sissy or a fag.

They received so many complaints, and I also sent the mayor so many emails and begging for help. And they ignored it. They didn’t address any complaints at all. So, that’s bull.

BLADE: But now after you filed your lawsuit and you received this settlement do you think there will be changes there to protect the rights of other LGBTQ employees?

JONES: I hope so, because I have been defending community rights. For many years I have been advocating for different things and different services. And I’ve seen the treatment. There are a lot of mistreatments towards the community over there. And I have taken a stance for a lot of people in the community and protecting their constitutional rights as well as mine.

BLADE: What advice might you have for what the Department of Corrections should do to correct the situation that led to your lawsuit?

JONES: Well, what my advice for the department is they need to go back over their training. And they need to enforce rules against any acts of discrimination, retaliation, or sexual harassment. They need to enforce that. They’re not enforcing that at all. They’re not doing it at all. And this time it was worse than ever, then I’ve ever seen it. That you would get on the walkie talkie and someone would call you a fag or a sissy or whatever else or do evil things and everything. They are not enforcing what they are preaching. They are not enforcing that.

BLADE: Is there any kind of concluding comment you may want to make?

JONES: Well, I hope that this litigation will be a wakeup call for the department. And also, that it will give someone else the motivation to stand up for their rights. I was blessed to have the ACLU and WilmerHale to protect my constitutional rights. So, I am just really happy. So, I’m hoping that others will stand up for their rights. Because a lot of people in the community that worked there, they were actually afraid. And I had some people who actually quit because of the pressure.

District of Columbia

U.S. Attorney’s Office drops hate crime charge in anti-gay assault

Case remains under investigation and ‘further charges’ could come

Published

1 week ago

February 11, 2026

Lou Chibbaro Jr.

(Photo by chalabala/Bigstock)

D.C. police announced on Feb. 9 that they had arrested two days earlier on Feb. 7 a Germantown, Md., man on a charge of simple assault with a hate crime designation after the man allegedly assaulted a gay man at 14^th and Q Streets, N.W., while using “homophobic slurs.”

But D.C. Superior Court records show that prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C., which prosecutes D.C. violent crime cases, charged the arrested man only with simple assault without a hate crime designation.

In response to a request by the Washington Blade for the reason why the hate crime designation was dropped, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office provided this response: “We continue to investigate this matter and make no mistake: should the evidence call for further charges, we will not hesitate to charge them.”

In a statement announcing the arrest in this case, D.C. police stated, “On Saturday, February 7, 2026, at approximately 7:45 p.m. the victim and suspect were in the 1500 block of 14^th Street, Northwest. The suspect requested a ‘high five’ from the victim. The victim declined and continued walking,” the statement says.

“The suspect assaulted the victim and used homophobic slurs,” the police statement continues. “The suspect was apprehended by responding officers.”

It adds that 26-year-old Dean Edmundson of Germantown, Md. “was arrested and charged with Simple Assault (Hate/Bias).” The statement also adds, “A designation as a hate crime by MPD does not mean that prosecutors will prosecute it as a hate crime.”

Under D.C.’s Bias Related Crime Act of 1989, penalties for crimes motivated by prejudice against individuals based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, and homelessness can be enhanced by a court upon conviction by one and a half times greater than the penalty of the underlying crime.

Prosecutors in the past both in D.C. and other states have said they sometimes decide not to include a hate crime designation in assault cases if they don’t think the evidence is sufficient to obtain a conviction by a jury. In some instances, prosecutors have said they were concerned that a skeptical jury might decide to find a defendant not guilty of the underlying assault charge if they did not believe a motive of hate was involved.

A more detailed arrest affidavit filed by D.C. police in Superior Court appears to support the charge of a hate crime designation.

“The victim stated that they refused to High-Five Defendant Edmondson, which, upon that happening, Defendant Edmondson started walking behind both the victim and witness, calling the victim, “bald, ugly, and gay,” the arrest affidavit states.

“The victim stated that upon being called that, Defendant Edmundson pushed the victim with both hands, shoving them, causing the victim to feel the force of the push,” the affidavit continues. “The victim stated that they felt offended and that they were also gay,” it says.

District of Columbia

Capital Pride wins anti-stalking order against local activist

Darren Pasha claims action is linked to his criticism of Pride organizers

Published

1 week ago

February 10, 2026

Lou Chibbaro Jr.

Darren Pasha was ordered to stay 100 feet away from Capital Pride officials. (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

A D.C. Superior Court judge on Feb. 6 partially approved an anti-stalking order against a local LGBTQ activist requested last October by the Capital Pride Alliance, the D.C.-based LGBTQ group that organizes the city’s annual Pride events.

The ruling by Judge Robert D. Okun requires Darren Pasha to stay at least 100 feet away from Capital Pride’s staff, board members, and volunteers until the time of a follow up court hearing he scheduled for April 17.

In his ruling at the Feb. 6 hearing, which was virtual rather than held in-person at the courthouse, Okun said he had changed the distance that Capital Pride had requested for the stay-away, anti-stalking order from 200 yards to 100 feet. The court records show that the judge also denied a motion filed earlier by Pasha, who did not attend the hearing, to “quash” the Capital Pride civil case against him.

Pasha told the Washington Blade he suffered an injury and damaged his mobile phone by falling off his scooter on the city’s snow-covered streets that prevented him from calling in to join the Feb. 6 court hearing.

In his own court filings without retaining an attorney, Pasha has strongly denied the stalking related allegations against him by Capital Pride, saying “no credible or admissible evidence has been provided” to show he engaged in any wrongdoing.

The Capital Pride complaint initially filed in court on Oct. 27, 2025, includes an 18-page legal brief outlining its allegations against Pasha and an additional 167-page addendum of “supporting exhibits” that includes multiple statements by witnesses whose names are blacked out.

“Over the past year, Defendant Darren Pasha (“DSP”) has engaged in a sustained, and escalating course of conduct directed at CPA, including repeated and unwanted contact, harassment, intimidation, threats, manipulation, and coercive behavior targeting CPA staff, board members, volunteers, and affiliates,” the Capital Pride complaint states.

In his initial 16-page response to the complaint, Pasha says the Capital Pride complaint appears to be a form of retaliation against him for a dispute he has had with the organization and its then president, Ashley Smith, last year.

“It is evident that the document is replete with false, misleading, and unsubstantiated assertions,” he said of the complaint.

Smith, who has since resigned from his role as board president, did not respond to a request by the Blade for comment at the time the Capital Pride court complaint was filed against Pasha.

Capital Pride Executive Director Ryan Bos and the attorney representing the group in its legal action against Pasha, Nick Harrison, did not immediately respond to a Blade request for comment on the judge’s Feb. 6 ruling.