Hitting Close to Home

The violent incident immediately caught my eye. A carjacking during evening rush hour in one of Washington, DC's busiest corridors. Someone I knew.

Many people outside of Washington think that nearly everyone who works near K Street - the infamous street in Northwest Washington lined with lobbying enterprises and trade associations - is a “swamp creature.” Not in a kind or positive way. Part of the “uniparty” of self-dealing denizens who care for each other at the nation’s expense.

I’d like you to meet one of them. I used to work with him about two decades ago when we were both food industry lobbyists. When I saw his photo in the news this morning, I remembered him instantly. My heart sank at the news.

Mike Gill, 56, was stopped in his car along K Street near the busy Mt. Vernon Square area, Washington’s convention center, the Capitol One arena, and many hotels and busy restaurants. Today, he’s in critical condition, lying in a hospital bed, in critical condition, fighting for his life.

He was waiting in his car to pick up his wife. He and his wife, Kristina, are the parents of three kids.

A lone deranged gunman jumped into his car and shot him in the head, a failed carjacking attempt. Gill was found outside his car, bleeding. His wife arrived shortly after that. The suspect fled and engaged in another carjacking a short while later, near Gallaudet University and the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Also unsuccessful, he killed that car’s driver, reports the Washington Post, the father of two children.

The gunman, still not identified - or, likely, his very long rap sheet - crossed into Maryland and began shooting at police. He was administered a sentence no judge will be able to overturn.

Washington, DC, is now the epicenter of an epidemic of violent carjackings. Even in broad daylight, during rush hour, along one of DC’s business corridors and nightlife scenes. Just last week, the Washington Post reported:

Last week, a law enforcement think tank organized a gathering in Washington for prosecutors, police and criminologists from across the country to discuss carjackings. The nation’s capital and its suburbs have emerged as an epicenter of the crime, with public safety officials in the region broadly defending their respective approaches to combating such offenses while acknowledging that the volume of carjackings has reached a crisis point.

I’ve not seen Mike, an attorney, in a while, maybe a couple of decades. But like so many people I’ve worked with in 40 years in and around Washington’s now-despised beltway, he’s one of the good guys. His career path, unlike mine, diverted to the legal world before moving to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CTFC) as Chief of Staff in 2016. Five years later, he wound up at his current job as a Senior Vice President for the Housing Policy Council, one of the ubiquitous Washington trade associations.

I can’t remember exactly when we first met. Still, it was probably when he first arrived at the American Frozen Food Institute in 2000 when I was toiling for another food industry association. I remember his easy manner, outgoing personality, optimism, and energy. He fit right in with an industry chock full of similar people. Unlike other industries, most food lobbyists get along very well, even those for competing companies. We have long learned that we share the same goals on most issues and find strength in numbers. We tended to lobby together when possible. We worked in a fun industry that brings a lot of joy to people - connecting people through food and celebrating life’s moments.

After our paths diverged, the Ohio native served on the DC Board of Elections. Like so many, he started his DC career as a press secretary for a home-state Congressman, the late Paul Gillmor (R-OH).

Mike is one of the good guys. There are a lot of people just like him in DC who arrive with high ideals and dreams of service. No doubt, as I did in the food industry, he found inspiration and others in government and the private sector dedicated to doing the right thing for their industries and constituents.

Today, he’s fighting for his life. There but for the grace of God go any of us.

Washington, DC, has sadly become a crime hell hole over the past couple of years, much of it wrapped up in a misguided “defund the police” movement that the city’s failed Mayor, Muriel Bowser, chose to impose on DC. She continues to blame “guns” and not the people using them. The results are obvious. Other than occasional trips to the well-guarded Capitol Hill, I now studiously avoid the city if possible.

Graph courtesy of Axios.

Carjackings doubled in 2023 from 2022 to nearly 1,000. Violent crime in the District rose during that same time frame by 39 percent. Yes, I know, DC isn’t the only major city wracked by crime, including carjackings. My wife lost a beloved niece to a violent carjacking and kidnapping near Baltimore in 2001.

Around the time I met and worked with Mike Gill.

I have one word of advice if you plan to visit your nation’s capital in 2024. Don’t.