The District of Columbia recorded its 100th homicide of the year this week, a grim milestone that U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said underscores an urgent crisis driven by illegal firearms and a lack of accountability for offenders.
Speaking at a press conference Tuesday, Pirro stood beside posters displaying the faces of 29 youths killed by gunfire in 2024 and 16 more so far in 2025. “I guarantee you that every one of these shootings was with an illegal gun,” she said. “It’s guns on the streets. It’s individuals who are not concerned about accountability, who don’t have any reason to fear law enforcement.”
Her remarks came one day after President Donald Trump declared a crime emergency in the capital and announced a federal takeover of the city’s Metropolitan Police Department. The plan, carried out under the city’s Home Rule Act, will see the Justice Department assume operational control of the department, while 800 National Guard troops are deployed to assist.
Pirro criticized what she described as lenient sentencing laws passed by the D.C. Council, singling out three in particular: the Youth Rehabilitation Act, which allows probation for offenders under 25 regardless of the crime; the Incarceration Reduction Act, which permits early release for certain offenders at age 25; and record-sealing rules that limit public access to conviction histories.
“No more of this D.C. Council, ‘Oh, you know, if they’re under 16, or if they’re under 19, or if they’re under 25, we’ll give them probation.’ No more, I’m done with that,” she said.
When asked about the city’s efforts to address root causes of violence — including truancy, youth unemployment, and lack of community resources — Pirro said her priority is prosecution and justice for victims. “I honestly am not concerned about why they commit crimes,” she said. “My concern is if they commit crimes. My concern is the victims of the crimes.”
The city’s crime data presents a complicated backdrop to the federal intervention. Metropolitan Police Department statistics show a 35 percent drop in overall crime last year to the lowest level in three decades, with violent crime down another 26 percent so far this year. Pirro, however, dismissed the numbers. “You tell these families crime has dropped,” she said, gesturing toward the victim posters. “That falls on deaf ears, and my ears are deaf to that.”
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser called the takeover “unsettling and unprecedented” but said it was not surprising given the administration’s posture toward local governance. The Justice Department has not indicated how long it intends to maintain control over the city’s police force.
