How pricey D.C. neighborhood less than a mile from the Capitol has turned into a crime-ridden 'war zone'

At just a 10-minute walk from Capitol Hill, Navy Yard was once considered a convenient and even desirable place for members of Congress and their staff to live.

The Washington D.C. neighborhood is dotted with shiny new apartment buildings boasting some of the swankiest amenities and highest rent prices in the country – with a one bedroom apartment averaging approximately $2,500 per month. 

But the area is also in the news nearly every day with a new shooting, stabbing, carjacking or other violent crime. 

The dangers have become so prevalent that some congressional aides will take an Uber to work rather than risk the half-mile journey to their office.

Residents say it has become a 'war zone' over the last four years, many are fearful, and some are so fed up that they have packed their bags and moved to Maryland or Virginia.  

'I left Navy Yard and left D.C. because of the rapid and drastic increase in crime,' Senior Legislative Assistant Rafaello Carone told DailyMail.com. 'I had to [leave] for safety and just affordability.'

Carone noted that the location is popular for lawmakers and Hill staffers because it is within walking distance to the Capitol complex. But he says many are forced to drive or use rideshare apps to get to work due to crime.

'The whole point of living in D.C. and close to the Capitol buildings is to get to work easy,' the staffer said. 'And now you're being forced to Uber and take other forms of transportation in order to just go to your job.'

Among those lawmakers DailyMail.com can confirm took up residence in Navy Yard over the last few years are Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) and Mark Takano (D-Calif.).

Notably, Cuellar was the victim of an armed carjacking in October outside his home at the Capitol Hill Tower condos in Navy Yard.

The Texas Democrat was not harmed by the three armed attackers, but they did take his white Honda CHR and sushi dinner.

'I left Navy Yard, lived there since February 2021, and I moved to Arlington,' Carone detailed, adding: 'Honestly, I think I left the same week that Congressman Cuellar was carjacked. And I just said you know, that's the last straw.'

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) expressed to DailyMail.com her growing concern with crime in her D.C. neighborhood and recently moved from the city to Virginia.

D.C.'s liberal City Council passed a law enforcement overhaul that was meant to hold officers more accountable, but instead appeared to embolden criminals and was deemed by critics 'soft-on-crime' policies.

Now, following public outcry that not enough is being done to combat crime, the council is already reversing some of these laws.

Ward 6 Council member Charles Allen, whose district encompasses Navy Yard, did not respond to a request for comment on the rising crime in the area he represents.

On Tuesday, an armed man connected to a shooting last year ran into the courtyard of an apartment building just a half-mile from the Capitol as police chased him through the Navy Yard area.

The building, called Illume Apartments, was sent into lockdown and residents were told to stay inside their units while SWAT teams cleared the area. U.S. Capitol Police also responded to the scene. The suspect was not found and remains at large.

At least a few members of Congress reside in Illume, according to The Spectator.

The incident followed a similar apartment manhunt last month in Navy Yard and just a block-and-a-half from the Department of Transportation.

After shooting a D.C. Housing Authority officer, the suspect ran into the garage of Arris Apartments and hid out, causing the complex to go into lockdown. Two individuals were arrested.

A resident impacted by crime in the area and who lives near Arris apartments told DailyMail.com: 'I first noticed crime upticking in Navy Yard only a few years ago. I broke my lease when I was living near Half Street after three men approached my car and tried to steal it.'

The individual said they moved to an area further away from the highway into Navy Yard, but it continued to 'inch closer.'

'It seems like no one is doing anything to stop the rise in crime,' the source said and declined to share their name. 'It's making it impossible to live in Navy Yard without fearing that you're going to get mugged on your way home from dinner one night, or walking with your friends during the daytime because some of these incidents are happening in broad daylight.'

Carone blamed the rise in violence on the D.C. City Council for passing laws recently that allow criminals to get away with breaking the law more easily and face less repercussions if caught.

'Simultaneously with the crime drastically increasing, you have the DC City Council overturning normative crime laws penalizing those who are committing these crimes and now making it easier for them and giving them a pass, which has made the city largely a war zone,' he told DailyMail.com. 

Mayor Bowser attempted to address the carjacking issue by handing out free Apple AirTags for residents to put in their vehicles so they would be more easily trackable if the vehicles were stolen.

'These tags and tiles will help MPD recover stolen vehicles and hold people accountable,' Bowser said at a press conference in November. 'The word will also get out this is not a community to come in and steal cars.'

Other Hill staffers and lawmakers have experienced violence in other D.C. neighborhoods, as well.

Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), for example, was assaulted inside the elevator of her apartment building in February 2023. The congresswoman was punched and grabbed by the neck by a man believed to be homeless. She suffered bruising but was able to throw her hot coffee on the attacker and ward him off.

A staffer for Sen. Rand Paul's office was stabbed on H St. NE in Washington, D.C. last year in what was allegedly a random attack.

Another Navy Yard resident and her husband live in Illume and are moving to Virginia next month to get away from the 'crime and chaos.'

She told DailyMail.com that they are sick and tired of paying thousands of dollars in high rent while Navy Yard crumbles around them.

There have been multiple incidents of homeless men sleeping on the roof of their building, cars being broken into in the garage and armed carjackings, stabbings and robberies just steps away from their front door.

'We don't feel safe in our own home despite being less than a 10 minute walk to the U.S. Capitol,' she explained. 'It's shocking that these senseless acts of violent crime are happening down the street from where elected officials are meeting. This area should set the beacon of safety and freedom for the country, but instead it has unfortunately devolved into rampant crime and chaos.'

And although they've lived in D.C. for nearly 10 years, the crime has never been so widespread and rampant.

'We agreed that it's time to move across the river for our own safety.'

Carone also listed some of the recent occurrences and high-profile crimes, which he said made him rethink his living situation.

'You had a sitting congressman carjacked at gunpoint across the street from my apartment building. You have dogs being thrown from balconies. You have dogs being shot, you have people being shot.'

He added: 'They say you can't use the metro, they said you can't walk by the water anymore, they say that you have to walk in pairs going to and from work.'

It is known that several lawmakers live in the glamorous and very expensive Navy Yard apartment buildings that have sprouted up in the last decade amid a massive gentrification push.

Phase II of the Navy Yard expansion project is underway and seems to be undeterred by rising crime while multiple new buildings go up every few months.

Many times, crime in Navy Yard involves groups of minors targeting individuals walking around the neighborhood. Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) implemented a curfew for minors beginning at 11:00 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 12:01 a.m. on weekends.

Carjackings across all of D.C. have risen exponentially in recent years.

There were 959 carjacking incident reports in 2023 – with many occurring in Navy Yard. This compared to the year prior when the instances of carjackings were about half with 485 reported.

But just five years ago in 2018, there were only 148 carjackings reported in all of D.C.