RIP: LIZ LAYTON. PLUS, NEW DETAILS ON GUNMEN'S ROBBERY SPREE
HAPPY HOLIDAYS from the Lincoln Park Newsletter. Retired federal worker, Lincoln Park denizen dies. Plus, exclusive new information on the series of holdups on Capitol Hill
By Scherzer Bernstein
Elizabeth “Liz” Layton, a regular park-goer with her canine companion PG, has died, friends and her son said. There had been no indication of illness and she apparently passed quietly in her home on Friday.
Liz was familiar to the 7:30 a.m. crowd with Mary Farran, the mayor of Lincoln Park. Liz charmed the crowd with her irascible Kentucky personality, hearty laugh and demonstrative Southern cadence in her voice. A retired federal worker, Liz typically arrived with The Washington Post flapping in the wind and PG pulling her along.
Born in the rural town of Livia, Kentucky, Liz retired from government service in 2005 and became active in charities and in her church, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on Capitol Hill. Fluent in Russian, she taught the language to interested students and through Capitol Hill Village. She loved traveling and most recently returned from a cruise on the Adriatic.
Beginning in 1972, Liz worked for 33 years at the Library of Congress as a senior acquisitions librarian responsible for the acquisition, by gift, exchange or purchase, of the press output of all countries of Central Europe and/or Central Asia and of South Africa, according to Liz’s Linkedin. Liz negotiated with and maintained relations with libraries and other institutions and with book dealers in these parts of the world. She also selected materials to be added to collections and for entry into the library’s catalogs.
She volunteered at the National Herbarium, where she translated descriptions of Siberian horticultural specimens, acquired on exchange from the Siberian Academy of Sciences, from Russian into English. She entered this information into the USDA’s database.
Liz also worked as a gardener in Fern Valley at the US National Arboretum, where she also volunteered in the Native Plant Collection, planting, weeding, pruning, mulching, whatever was needed to maintain the collection in good order.
At the Samaritan Ministry of Greater Washington, she helped people write resumes. Liz was quite the Renaissance woman. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a bachelor’s degree in applied science from the University of Kentucky with a specialty in Russian area studies. At Indiana University, she studied for a master’s in Russian and Czech language in literature.
She taught tai chi to passersby in the park and had detailed knowledge in esoteric librarian materials. She often joked – but it was true – that she was an intern at the Folger Shakespeare Library.
Since 2013, she had assisted in the Rare Books division at the Folger by collating 17th century works published in Flanders for inclusion in the STCV, according to Liz’s Linkedin. (What on earth is the STCV? Well, as it has been explained to me, the SCTV is the Short Title Catalogue Flanders, a database that records the use of “u” in title words, even when modern orthography would replace the “v”; with “u”;. This is useful for studying 17th-century Flemish book titles.) V’s and u’s. Who knew?
At St. Mark’s Episcopal, she was a member of the altar guild. In 1984, Liz gave St. Mark’s a photograph of an icon of Our Lady of Tikhvin. The photo can be seen above the stone credence shelf to the right of the high altar. Liz donated it when the St. Mark’s Peace Committee was attempting to establish a relationship with a Russian Orthodox church in Moscow; the effort was not successful.
HANDS* DC Craft of Cairo Sale 2024
Today 1-5pm at St Marks, 301 A St SE, Washington, DC 20003
Items made by artisans at the Association for the Protection of the Environment (APE), a job skills training program for women living and working in the garbage recycler’s community in Cairo.
The handicrafts are made from clean, recycled materials. All profits will support vocational training programs that train young Egyptians from economically critical backgrounds, so they can find meaningful employment and build themselves and their families a better future.
*Hands Along the Nile Development Services, Inc
‘Give me your wallet and cellphone or I'll kill you!’
Scary robbery spree rattles Lincoln Park
Police search for suspects wanted for Capitol Hill crime spree
By Tommy Woodward
Ping, ping, ping. The crime alerts rang through cell phones on Monday morning as a three gunmen staged string of armed robberies across Capitol Hill.
Denise Krepp, a former Capitol Hill Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner, said her phone was blowing up with notifications. "We hit three, went to get a cup of coffee, got to four, ya know," Krepp told Channel 9 news.
Now, the Metropolitan Police Department is asking for the community’s assistance in locating suspects and a vehicle involved in robbery offenses that occurred on Monday, December 2, 2024.
Here is a summary of the robberies from police reports and a news release:
The victims, residents of Byron, Michigan, report that they were attempting to enter their vehicle when three men exited a gray sedan and approached them near F and 10th Streets NE.. The robbers were armed with dark-colored handguns and demanded the victims wallets and a purse that contained $600 in cash.
At 6:30 a.m., three crooks approached a victim as he was walking westbound on K Street NW, when one robber barked, “Give me your wallet.”
The victim ignored the robber’s demand and kept walking when a second robber grabbed him and forced his hands into his left pocket for his wallet. The victim said he quickly reacted by grabbing the robber and pushing him away before all three suspects walked away in the opposite direction.
The victim said he continued his journey to his place of work and contacted his father about the robber. His father advised him to report the robbery to the police. Because he resisted the crooks, the victim did not lose any property in the attempted robbery.
Lincoln Park area residents reported that while walking north on 14th St. SE, they turned left onto the 1300 block of East Capitol St. SE at the southwest corner.
As they passed the church, three men approached them from behind. One man, armed with a black semi-automatic handgun, pointed it at a victim’s head, demanding, "Give us your stuff! Give us your phone code!" The suspects patted down the victims, stealing two iPhone 14s.
The robbers then ordered the victims to walk west on East Capitol toward 13th St. and to "cross the street.”
The victim, a worker who resides in Virginia, reported that three men approached him while he was seated in his work vehicle on December 2 at 7 a.m. and took his wallet and cell phone while brandishing a black handgun, pointed it at him and searching his personal bag.
The three suspects fled the scene on foot traveling southbound on the 1800 block of Burke Street SE and into the left alley.
While leaving his apartment at 7:30 a.m., a resident of I Street NE was approached by three robbers and placed in a chokehold, and was then punched and kicked in his head and hands. The robbers then stole his wallet and his phone before running to a small red vehicle that was double parked in the street. The victim found his phone a block away from the scene shortly thereafter.
The victim reports that he was walking on the sidewalk in front of the 600 block of D Street NE when the robber approached him armed with a black semi-automatic handgun and stated "Give me your wallet and cellphone or I'll kill you!"
The robber fled the scene on foot and dropped the cellphone, which was recovered by the victim near the event location.
A Capitol Hill resident said that while walking west in the 600 block of Constitution Ave NE, a maroon red, four-door Lexus sedan with unknown Maryland tags stopped suddenly. S-1 got out from the front passenger seat and displayed a black semi-automatic pistol.
The gunman said, "Give me everything," and the victim handed over a MacBook and other items, and the gunman and got back into the vehicle, which was last seen east in the 600 block of Constitution Ave NE.
WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? WERE THEY LINKED TO THE ROBBERY SPREE ON MONDAY?
Three suspects are wanted in connection with seven armed robberies committed in Hill East over a two-hour span Monday morning.
Officers from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) are asking for the community’s assistance in locating suspects and a vehicle that are linked to the series of robberies that took place between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. Dec. 2.
Hill staffer among 12 people whom police say armed men targeted in seven attacks at the outset of the morning commute Monday.
Excerpted from The Washington Post
Among the victims of the crime spree was a congressional staffer from Texas robbed near Stanton Park as he walked to work, The Washington Post reported.
Brayden Woods, 26, the legislative director for Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX), is one of several staffers and members of Congress targeted in robberies or attacks in the District since early last year, when violent crime was spiking.
Woods told the Post in a statement he thought he lived in a safe neighborhood “due to the proximity of the Capitol” and “never imagined I could become a victim of violent crime.”
Woods thanked the police who responded to the attack but said “it’s clear that their hands are tied,” adding that he believes criminals are treated “too leniently” in D.C., ultimately leaving “victims to fend for themselves.”
He faulted city leaders for their handling of criminal justice issues and said he understood why many of his friends “have chosen to leave the District and move to Virginia.”
In a statement, Rep. Van Duyne said she is “outraged by Democrats’ soft-on-crime policies that continue to embolden criminals and endanger our communities.” The Texas Repulican called the attack a “painful reminder” of the harm inflicted by leftists who believe violent criminals are the real victims.
The robberies, some minutes apart, continued for the next hour and 45 minutes near Lincoln Park on Capitol Hill, on streets near Union Station, and in Hill East. In one robbery on East Capitol Street in Southeast, police said a man and woman were held up from behind at gunpoint in front of a church. One man pointed the gun at the man’s head and demanded, “Give us your stuff!” according to the police report, and patted down the victims while taking two Apple iPhones.
In another robbery near Union Station, police said a man leaving his apartment was attacked and put in a chokehold, then punched and kicked in the head. Police said his wallet and phone were taken by men who ran to a red vehicle double parked a block away.
Police said Woods, the congressional staffer, is believed to be the last victim in the series of robberies. A police report says he was walking west along the 600 block of Constitution Avenue NE, when a man armed with a black semiautomatic handgun got out of a red four-door sedan with Maryland license plates and confronted him.
“Give me everything,” he said, according to the police report, taking a wallet, tablet and MacBook computer. Woods said most of the items were found by police using tracking devices and that his iPad was found by a random bystander. His MacBook remains missing.
TOMMY RESPONDS TO LETTER TO THE EDITOR: SCHERZER, DON’T BE A HATER.
Dear Scherzer,
I read your letter to the editor and it’s not cool, man. You need to chill out.
I can’t believe you’re working for the man, now, and ratting me out to the fuzz.
There is plenty of chow for everyone from the lady on the bench. Don’t flip your wig.
You need to make love, not war.
You even made fun of my threads. My auntie gave me that Mexican hoodie. She put out a lot of dough for those threads. Everyone I know digs my hoodie and they think it’s far out.
Life is a journey, not a destination. There is freedom waiting for you in the breezes of the sky and you ask, what if I fall? Oh but my darling, what if you fly?
Don’t be a hater. Love is all you need. Keep on truckin’ and let your freak flag fly!
Peace out,
Tommy Woodward
TREES, TREES, TREES
Capitol Hill Scouts Christmas Trees, Wreaths & Tabletop Trees
212 East Capitol St., Lutheran Church of the Reformation, through today, Sunday, Dec. 8
Today is the last day for the annual Pack 230 and Scout Troop 500 Christmas Tree and Wreath Fundraiser and Coat Drive, a Capitol Hill tradition.
Brent tree sale today
This year's sale features:
Beautiful Fraser Fir trees from 3' - 10'
Wreaths, roping, poinsettias, winterberry, Hanukkah items and more!
Delivery service including Capitol Hill and Navy Yard 12/7 and 12/8 9am-5pm
Optional In Home Setup
And a special visit from Santa himself!
For more information about tree delivery, please click here.
Brent Elementary 301 North Carolina Ave. SE
Today, Sunday, Dec. 8th, 9am - 5pm
Robert O’Harrow Jr., investigative veteran at The Washington Post, dies at 64
Mr. O’Harrow’s wide-ranging work included groundbreaking investigations into digital privacy and surveillance.
The award-winning former Washington Post reporter Robert O’Harrow Jr. died on Friday. The cause was cancer. He was 64.
Robert was a force of nature, a two-time Pulitzer finalist and contributor to a 2017 Post Pulitzer. While he left full-time work for the Post about three years ago, he remained a contract writer for the Post.
Robert was an indefatigable, obsessive reporter, a compulsive fact-checker, a relentless digger and masterful investigative journalist.
Obit here https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/12/07/robert-oharrow-post-investigative-dies/
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Here’s the urn map
As winter approaches, you will be hearing from the National Park Service as they ask you to fill out your annual paperwork.
https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1VAZgfCet1HjsOZBS8_WRa9vYzJILYqlRLcaXCnOL7Lw/edit?usp=sharing
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