Georgetown, November 23, 2023 — cybernewschronicle.com — Secret Service agents protecting Naomi Biden, the President’s granddaughter, fired at three people who were breaking into an unoccupied government SUV parked on a Georgetown street late Sunday, 21 November 2023. No one was hit, and the suspects sped away in a red car. The Metropolitan Police Department has opened the standard use-of-force investigation and is searching for the trio.
The confrontation began just before midnight on 31st Street NW, a quiet block of brick townhouses two blocks from the Potomac River. According to a Secret Service incident report released Monday, agents assigned to Naomi Biden’s protective detail saw two men and one woman “tampering with and entering” a parked Secret Service Chevrolet Suburban that had been left running while another agent stepped into a residence.
One officer issued verbal commands, then fired a single round when the suspects refused to stop. The three jumped into a red Nissan with Maryland tags and fled south toward M Street. Officers attempted to follow but lost the car in traffic.
No weapon was recovered from the scene, and the Suburban was not struck.
Standard review process launched
Within hours the Metropolitan Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division assumed the shooting investigation, as required for every officer-involved discharge inside the District. “We will examine body-camera footage, 911 calls, and witness statements,” Commander Jason McWhirter told reporters outside MPD headquarters Monday afternoon. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. will decide whether the agent’s decision to fire meets federal standards for the use of deadly force.
The Secret Service simultaneously began its own administrative review; the agent who fired has been placed on routine paid leave pending the outcome. A senior law-enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the probe is open, told the Associated Press the shot was “intended to disable the fleeing vehicle, not to strike any individual,” and emphasized that Naomi Biden was inside a separate armored vehicle half a block away at the moment the weapon was discharged.
Georgetown incident fits wider carjacking surge
Sunday’s episode is the latest in a wave of auto thefts that has washed over the capital in 2023. Metropolitan Police data show 751 carjackings and 6,090 stolen vehicles through 19 November, putting the city on pace to exceed last year’s totals by roughly 25 percent. Armed crews frequently target idling cars, a tactic that has ensnared several federal vehicles.
In October, a State Department security SUV was taken at gunpoint near Union Station and recovered two days later in Prince George’s County, stripped of its radio and emergency equipment. The trend has touched members of Congress as well.
On 2 October, Democratic Representative Henry Cuellar of Texas was carjacked by three armed men three blocks from the Capitol. “They were professional, fast, and calm,” Cuellar told reporters afterward. “It’s clear this is not random anymore.” He praised Capitol Police and D.C. officers for recovering his vehicle within an hour, but the incident rattled colleagues who already worry about moving around the city after dark.
Violent crime climbs 40 percent in 2023
Vehicle theft is only one piece of a larger public-safety picture that has darkened throughout the year. Overall violent crime, homicide, robbery, and assault, has jumped more than 40 percent compared with the same period in 2022, according to MPD CompStat reports. Homicides stand at 250, matching the full-year total for 2022 with five weeks remaining.
Robberies have surpassed 2,300, driven in part by “bump-and-run” crews who steal cars, use them in additional robberies, then abandon them. In February, Democratic Representative Angie Craig was assaulted inside her Southeast apartment building by a man who had followed her from the elevator.
Craig escaped with bruises after throwing her hot coffee at the attacker, later identified as 26-year-old Kendrid Hamlin. The incident intensified calls for tougher prosecution of repeat offenders; Hamlin had been released under the District’s lenient pretrial guidelines three weeks earlier on a separate assault charge. Republicans on the House Oversight Committee have seized on the statistics, blaming local policies for emboldening criminals.
“Washington’s elected officials have handcuffed police and tied the hands of prosecutors,” said Kentucky Representative James Comer, the committee’s GOP chairman. “When the President’s own family isn’t safe from car thieves, it’s time for the District to reverse course.”
Security details adapt to new risks
The Secret Service has quietly expanded protection for presidential relatives as street crime has risen. Naomi Biden, 29, a Columbia Law School graduate who works at a D.C. law firm, has had a full detail since 2021, but agents now accompany her on foot when she leaves restaurants and shops in Georgetown, a shift from the lower-profile motorcade-only practice used in prior administrations.
The change mirrors broader adjustments: Cabinet members who once declined security now request it, and House Sergeant at Arms William McFarland told lawmakers last month that escort requests have tripled since 2022. President Biden was briefed on the shooting Monday morning at the White House.
“The President is grateful for the quick action of the Secret Service and relieved that Naomi was unharmed,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. He did not alter his public schedule, but senior aides say the incident has renewed discussion inside the West Wing about federal support for D.C. policing. A senior administration official said the White House is reviewing whether to deploy additional marshals or re-fund the District’s controversial gun-violence interruption programs that were cut during last year’s budget negotiations.
For now, Georgetown residents will see more patrol cars and temporary security checkpoints while the search for the red Nissan continues. Commander McWhirter urged anyone with doorbell or dash-cam footage to come forward, noting that even partial plates could help close the case.
Until the three suspects are in custody, the episode remains a stark reminder that violent street crime has moved from the city’s margins to its most exclusive blocks, forcing even the First Family’s protectors to draw their weapons within sight of the ivy-covered mansions that line the Potomac.
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