Rep. Brad Finstad (R-MN) said that a member of his staff was attacked by an armed assailant just blocks away from the Capitol building Thursday night.
The staffer was attacked near his home following the annual Congressional baseball game, according to a statement from the Republican congressman. He suffered minor injuries in the attack and will make a full recovery.
“Following Wednesday’s Congressional Baseball Game for Charity, one of my staffers was attacked outside of his residence by an armed gunman,” Finstad said. “Thankfully, he will be able to make a full recovery and the extent of his physical injuries was minor. I thank the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department for their quick response and their attention to this incident.”
Finstad criticized “anti-police” and “soft-on-crime” policies in leftist cities across the country that “have created lawless societies that endanger the public and empower criminal behavior.”
“It’s time we started treating criminals like criminals and bring back commonsense policies that imprison career criminals, keep the public safe, and allow our police officers to adequately protect our communities and keep violent criminals off the streets.”
Washington, D.C., has seen a dramatic rise in violent crime so far in 2023. Violent crime is up 21% in the nation’s capital compared to this time last year, according to the Metropolitan Police Department. Homicide has increased by 16%, robbery has increased by 31%, and motor vehicle theft is up a staggering 120%.
Another Republican, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, said in March that one of his staffers was “brutally attacked in broad daylight” in D.C. The Metropolitan Police Department said the victim, an adult male, was stabbed multiple times and treated at a hospital for life-threatening injuries. Court documents show the victim told a detective at the hospital that he did not know the suspect nor did the suspect make any demands prior to the attack.
A police news release on Monday said a suspect, identified as 42-year-old Glynn Neal of Southeast D.C., was arrested and charged with Assault with Intent to Kill (Knife). The victim, later identified as Phillip Todd, underwent trauma surgery and is expected to make a full recovery, according to his parents.
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Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) was assaulted by a 26-year-old homeless man in an elevator at her D.C. apartment building in February. Craig said that she was “very, very lucky that [she] was not more injured.”
Daniel Chaitin contributed to this report.