The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-24)

B2 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.TUESDAY, MAY 24 , 2022

BY PETER HERMANN

A security guard who was fatal-

ly shot early Sunday in Southeast

Washington was in uniform and

appears to have exchanged gun-

fire with a group in an apartment

complex parking lot he had been

patrolling, according to a D.C. po-

lice spokesman.

The 33-year-old guard, Shawn

Minor, a father of three who lived

in Maryland, was “conducting his

rounds” at The Vistas when he

came under fire, according to D.C.

Assistant Police Chief Andre

Wright. A police spokesman said

Minor had confronted a group be-

fore the shooting.

D.C. police said in a statement

Sunday that Minor had been

working as a special police officer,

a designation given to licensed

security guards in the District. But

a more detailed check of city rec-

ords on Monday revealed Minor

was not licensed and was not au-

thorized to possess a firearm, a

police spokesman said.

Authorities said they were

working to conclusively identify

the security company for which

Minor worked. A representative

for the D.C. Department of Con-

sumer and Regulatory Affairs —

which, along with D.C. police, reg-

ulates licensed security guards —

did not respond to a request for

comment.

Wright said detectives recov-

ered multiple bullet casings from

different firearms at the scene.

Wright described the shooting of

Minor as a “heinous act.”

Police said no arrest has been

made and detectives are trying to

determine what prompted the

shooting, which occurred about

12:20 a.m. in the 2500 block of

Elvans Road SE.

Authorities said it appears Mi-

nor exited a vehicle and ap-

proached a group of people. The

security guard and the group ex-

changed words, and police said it

appears someone in a different

group shot at Minor as he walked

back to his vehicle.

Dustin Sternbeck, a police

spokesman, said it appears Minor

fired back. Sternbeck said a 9mm

handgun, modified to fire rapidly

as if it were fully automatic, was

found near where Minor fell and

was pronounced dead.

There are about 15,000 special

police officers and security offi-

cers in the District. Special police

officers have arrest powers gener-

ally limited to properties to which

they are assigned. Some are li-

censed to carry firearms.

The block of Elvans Road where

the shooting took place has been

the site of violence several times in

recent months.

In 2018, the D.C. Office of the

Attorney General sued a manage-

ment company that ran The Vistas

in the 2500 block of Elvans Road

SE and another apartment com-

plex in the next block on the same

street.

The lawsuit alleged the com-

plexes had been “plagued by per-

sistent gun violence and drug-re-

lated crime,” with police having

responded to more than 280 calls

for suspected narcotics and fire-

arm offenses over an 18-month

period.

In 2020, the attorney general

entered a $3.5 million consent

judgment with both complexes

that included provisions to im-

prove security, among many other

property upgrades. The Office of

the Attorney General said the

then-owners went into bankrupt-

cy, but the office continues to mon-

itor the agreement with the new

owners. Those owners could not

be reached for comment Monday.

Minor’s grandmother, Shirley

Minor-Beale, said she raised Mi-

nor and his b rothers a fter their

mother died.

Minor-Beale, 76, said her

grandson had recently decided “to

do something positive with his

life” and became a security guard.

Minor lived with his grand-

mother but was often with his

three children — girls ages 3 and

13, and a boy, 12, Minor-Beale said.

She said police have not told her

any information about the shoot-

ing or what might have prompted

it. Directing a message to city lead-

ers, she said: “Get rid of these

guns.”

THE DISTRICT

Guard killed

in Southeast

may have

fired back

was not immediately known if
that weapon was used in the
shooting.
The DowntownDC Business
Improvement District said in an
email Monday evening that the
city will remove all tents from
the site and treat it as a “no
camping zone” until further no-
tice. The email said outreach
teams from the D.C. government
were deployed to “offer support
and resources to those individu-
als who remained on-site as of
this morning.”
D.C. Council member Brooke
Pinto (D-Ward 2) said on Twitter
that people living at the Thomas
Circle encampment will be
moved into PEP-V housing,
which refers to D.C.'s Pandemic
Emergency Program for Medical-
ly Vulnerable Individuals. The
program allows individuals who
are at higher risk of being severe-
ly impacted by the coronavirus to
shelter in individual rooms, pri-
marily in area hotels, instead of
traditional congregate facilities.
“Sadly, another life lost to gun
violence,” Pinto said. “This site
has not been safe.”
The number of homeless en-
campments in the District in-
creased by more than 40 percent
from 2020 to 2021, according to
Wayne Turnage, the deputy may-
or for health and human ser-

SHOOTING FROM B1 vices, despite aggressive govern-
ment programs and an overall
decrease in the city’s homeless
population over the past several
years.
Experts and advocates say
there has been a spike in violence
against the homeless nationwide
in the wake of the coronavirus
pandemic. The Monday morning
shooting came two months after
police linked a man to the shoot-
ings of five homeless people in
D.C. and New York City, killing
two and injuring three.
The incident also occurred
amid a rise in homicides in the
District.
Through Sunday night, 76 ho-
micides had been reported in the
city, a 5.5 percent increase over
the same period in 2021. Killings
surpassed 200 last year for the
first time since 2003. Police said
they seized about 40 illegal fire-
arms in the District this past
weekend.
Bill Bortz, who lives in the
Thomas Circle neighborhood,
said he was walking his dog by
the small encampment when he
heard “a loud crack” from inside
a tent “that could only be a
gunshot.” Bortz, who is in his 70s,
said he called 911.
Wright said detectives were
seeking video that might have
captured images of the man and
would publish those as soon as
they are available.

“We want to talk to this indi-

vidual to find out what oc-

curred,” Wright said in a news

conference at the scene. He said

the investigators do not yet know

what prompted the shooting.

“This is definitely an unfortu-

nate event,” Wright said. “We’re

on it. And I think that with a little

more pieces coming together, we

should be able to get this case

closed.”

Marissa J. Lang and Justin Wm.

Moyer contributed to this report.

Man is fatally shot at homeless encampment

THE WASHINGTON POST

England (28).
A Commanders spokesman de-
clined to comment Monday. Ear-
lier that morning, before the
news broke, team president Ja-
son Wright declined to comment
on the state of the team’s stadium
search.
“Everything is incredibly con-
fidential,” Wright said in an inter-
view. “The way that we have
always endeavored to do business
with partners — Maryland, Vir-
ginia or D.C. — is to treat this as
their project, their economic de-
velopment strategy and to keep
everything as quiet as possible so
that those aims they have are
most able to be accomplished.”
The Commanders’ agreement,
while a signal that the franchise
is serious about Woodbridge,
doesn’t mean the move is a done
deal. The team’s stadium search
has seemingly narrowed to five
sites — Woodbridge; near Poto-
mac Shores Golf Club in
Dumfries; a quarry near Dulles
International Airport in Sterling;
RFK Stadium in Washington;
and a site near FedEx Field — and
the deal in Virginia could ulti-
mately be a negotiating tactic.
Margaret A. Franklin (D), the
Prince William County supervi-
sor who represents Woodbridge,
said she didn’t know anything
about the agreement. “I don’t
represent any area under consid-
eration,” she said via text.
One of the sites that has been
under consideration is an area
known as The Landing at Prince
William, a stretch of land near
Interstate 95 and the Prince Wil-
liam County Parkway that, in
2019, the county rezoned for
eventual redevelopment. But Su-
pervisor Kenny A. Boddye (D-Oc-
coquan), who represents that
area, said he wasn’t aware of any
land deal there.
“I know that they are looking
at that land,” said Boddye, adding
that he had not been contacted by
the Commanders and learned
about the team’s actions in Prince
William through news reports.
“There has been no official appli-
cation with the county or any-
thing like that. It looks like
they’re just sort of trying to lock
up land at the potential sites
they’re looking at in the county.”
“No decision has been made on
a new stadium in Prince William
County,” Christina Winn, execu-
tive director of the Prince Wil-
liam County Department of Eco-
nomic Development, said in a
statement. “As far as we under-
stand, the team is exploring all of
their options, including where
they currently own land.”
She continued: “While this
news doesn’t mean the team has
officially chosen Prince William
County, we look forward to en-
gaging with the team to ensure
any development opportunity
would be a good fit for the

COMMANDERS FROM B1

community and there is a posi-

tive economic and fiscal benefit

to the county.”

In fact, Commanders owner

Daniel Snyder already owns a

comparable amount of land —

more than 200 acres — at the

FedEx Field site. The organiza-

tion has discussed similar plans

for a “mini-city” with Maryland

legislators, with a state-of-the-art

stadium anchoring a large enter-

tainment complex with restau-

rants, retail and housing. The

state has a plan to spend

$400 million to develop the area

around FedEx Field but not build

the stadium itself.

The team has at times indicat-

ed interest in returning to the

RFK Stadium site in Washington,

but the District’s leaders have

been unable to introduce legisla-

tion to make the federally owned

land a viable option for several

reasons, including financing.

In a recent Washington Post

survey of candidates for mayor

and the D.C. Council, only three

of 24 respondents said taxpayers

should subsidize construction or

development to support a new

Commanders stadium — though

one in favor of providing some

financing was Mayor Muriel E.

Bowser (D).

“I support bringing the Com-

manders back to DC and would

be willing to prepare the land for

their use, but will not pay for

stadium construction or subsi-

dize it,” Bowser wrote in response

to the questionnaire. “Regard-

less, I call on the federal govern-

ment to transfer the land so we

can use it to maximize recreation,

retail & affordable housing.”

Council Chairman Phil Men-

delson (D-At Large), who an-

swered “no” on subsidies, has

said he supports the city gaining

control of the RFK land but

would oppose the Commanders

occupying it until the NFL releas-

es a report on the findings of its

sexual harassment investigation

into Snyder. He also said the 13

council members are sharply di-

vided on what to do with the

land.

On Monday, the news of the

option came as Virginia’s legisla-

tors got word to return to Rich-

mond on June 1 to vote on a

proposed state budget. That will

be their last opportunity to vote

on stadium authority legislation,

which, like the budget, was car-

ried into a special session after

the General Assembly failed to

wrap up its work in the regular

session that concluded in March.

Legislators tasked with hammer-

ing out differences between rival

House and Senate stadium bills

indicated last week that negotia-

tions were still underway.

The potential move caused

some to worry about the effect on

the community. If the Command-

ers ultimately build in Wood-

bridge, the impact to local traffic

on game days “would be pretty

darn significant” in a county that

has been heavily dependent on

automobiles for transportation,

said Stewart Schwartz, executive

director of the Coalition for

Smarter Growth, an organization

that calls for pedestrian-friendly

communities built around mass

transit.

As it is, that part of I-95 is

perpetually congested during

rush hour, a reflection of the fact

that Woodbridge has become

more densely populated as the

population in Prince William

continues to grow.

County officials and state law-

makers who represent the area

have lobbied for extended mass

transit into the area, though that

could be prohibitively expensive

without additional development

built around those trains,

Schwartz said.

Last year, the Virginia Depart-

ment of Rail and Public Trans-

portation estimated that it would

cost $27 billion to extend either

the Yellow or Blue Metro lines to

that part of Prince William.

The Virginia deal did not di-

lute hope from Maryland law-

makers that the team would re-

main in Landover. Maryland law-

makers this spring approved in-

vesting $400 million in the area

around FedEx Field, money to

dismantle the existing stadium

and build amenities that could

anchor a mini-city concept. The

cash will be spent regardless of

whether the Commanders relo-

cate, but Del. Jazz Lewis (D-

Prince George’s), who represents

the community near the stadium,

said he hoped the $400 million

was just the beginning of an

incentive package for the team.

“I want it to be the beginning

of the conversation,” Lewis said.

“Of course I’d like them to stay

and invest. ... But if they’re going

to go, then fine.”

The Commanders have been

playing at FedEx Field since 1997

but have been shopping for a new

stadium option for several years.

The team is obligated to play in

Landover until at least 2027.

The team’s stadium search fig-

ures to be a topic of conversation

moving forward. It led a Monday

morning panel of local sports

executives hosted by the Greater

Washington Board of Trade.

“Jason, are we ready to say

where the new location of the

stadium —” began moderator

Greg Wallig, the managing prin-

cipal of Grant Thornton’s metro-

politan D.C. and Arlington office.

“That’s where we’re going to

start?” Wright said with a laugh,

before demurring.

Vozzella reported from Richmond.

Erin Cox contributed to this report.

Team has right to buy 200 acres in Woodbridge

“It looks like they’re just

sort of trying to lock up

land at the potential

sites they’re looking at

in the county.”

Prince William County Supervisor

Kenny A. Boddye (D-Occoquan)

JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST

Fans attend a Washington Commanders draft party April 28 at FedEx Field in Landover, where the team is obligated to play until at least

2027. The franchise’s stadium search has seemingly narrowed to five sites across Maryland, Virginia and the District.

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