Explosions Hit DC Businesses as Bombing Suspect Remains on the Loose

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser at a press conference in 2018. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Authorities in Washington, D.C. are seeking public assistance in locating the suspects behind three bombing attacks on Sunday morning.

Bombs hit a bank, a retail outlet, and a grocery store within 15 minutes on July 2, causing damage.

Three stores in Northeast Washington reported attacks with explosive devices, according to a statement from the Metropolitan Police Department’s (MPD) Criminal Investigations Division and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Washington Field Division.

Bombing Suspect Still at Large

The first explosive went off at about 4:30 a.m. near Washington Place outside a Truist Bank ATM, before the suspect drove off, said authorities.

Another device was detonated outside a Nike store on H Street, north of Capitol Hill, at 4:36 a.m., just six minutes after the first blast.

The suspect later tossed a Molotov cocktail at a Safeway on 40th Street at around 4:45 a.m. before speeding off again, police said.

No injuries were reported, according to the MPD.

All three establishments were closed at the time, but each reported damage to their buildings, including shattered windows.

Police said they believed that the suspect was targeting commercial establishments and not members of the public.

Each of the targeted businesses was at least a mile from Capitol Hill.

Police said there may be more than one suspect in the case and released a surveillance image of a suspect and a car matching the description of the one used in the attacks.

The car is a gold- or champagne-colored Acura TL with a Maryland plate of 17971CK.

Police are offering a reward of up to $10,000 to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest and conviction of those involved, while the ATF is also offering a $10,000 reward, bringing the total possible amount to $20,000.

“In each of these offenses, it appears the suspect targeted commercial establishments and it does not appear the suspect was targeting any members of the public. The establishments were closed at the time of the offenses,” MPD said in its news release.

Nation’s Capital Hit by Wave of Violent Crime

Violent crime in the nation’s capital is up 10 percent from the same time last year, including a 15 percent rise in homicides, according to data released May 8 by the MPD.

Statistics also show sex abuse cases up 48 percent and robberies up 12 percent, since the start of the crime wave.

Washington’s Mayor Murial Bowser told DC News Now that one solution could be to hire more police officers.

“MPD is at a historic low in terms of staffing,” Bowser said, adding “we continue to do everything possible as it relates to recruiting the best of the best to serve at MPD.”

The MPD currently has 3,350 police officers, outgoing chief Robert Contee told DC News, but said that 200 planned to leave by the end of fiscal year 2024.

Biden Prosecutor Fails to Charge Most Suspects Committing Crimes

Contee also indirectly blamed the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia for declining to prosecute the vast majority of arrests made in the capital, for the latest surge in crime.

U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves, a President Joe Biden appointee, declined to prosecute 67 percent of those arrested in the city in 2021, according to a new report.

“I can promise you, it’s not MPD holding the bag on this. That’s B.S.,” Contee told The Washington Post.

“Of course we are concerned. We believe every person we arrest should be off the streets.”

The outgoing police chief has expressed frustration with the lack of prosecution for crimes in the city this year.

In March, Contee said that the only way to keep the number of homicides down in Washington was to “keep violent people in jail.”