Witness killings since 2004 - Washington Post

Publish date: 2024-09-01

By Cheryl W. Thompson and Denise Lu, Published: Jan. 10, 2015

Since 2004, at least 37 people in D.C. and Maryland have been killed for cooperating with law enforcement or out of fear that they might, according to a Post investigation. Eighteen of those occurred in the District. Read related story.

PROTECTION

In at least 20 cases, victims were not offered protection. Some accepted protection; others rejected it. Some were never offered it because authorities didn’t consider them “government” witnesses.

Location and date of incident

Some victims were killed () within a few days of the date of the crimes they witnessed (), others were killed years later. Some accepted protection; others rejected it. Some were never offered it because authorities didn’t consider them “government” witnesses.

The 37 victims

The five victims offered protection

The 20 victims not offered protection

The nine victims who declined protection

The three victims for which officials declined to comment

Sources: Metropolitan Police Department, D.C. Superior Court, U.S. attorney’s office for D.C., U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Maryland, Prince George’s County state’s attorney’s office, Baltimore City state’s attorney’s office, Anne Arundel County Police Department, Washington Post research.

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