cold war kids ... everytime something happens near the club, it sure does get a hell of a lot of attention ... doesn't seem like you hear about other muggings in columbia heights or shaw
Three Assaulted Near Popular Club Student Hospitalized for Injuries
By David Krone
Hoya Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Three Georgetown students were assaulted near a popular nightclub on Wednesday night by a group of female assailants, resulting in one of the students being hospitalized.
The three students, who were all female, had left a Cold War Kids concert at the 9:30 Club on V Street, NW, and were walking to the nearby Metro station at approximately 11:25 p.m. when they heard someone approaching them from behind at the corner of Vermont and V Streets, according to Erica Slates (SFS ??10), one of the students.
Slates said that between six and eight female assailants then pepper-sprayed and physically attacked her and her two companions, Heather Brock (COL ??10) and Kayla Fossen (COL ??10), and that one of the assailants pulled her hair and kicked her. When Slates turned around, she saw three assailants kicking and punching Brock, who was on the ground.
Slates said she then tried to call 911, but one of the suspects attempted to wrestle her to the ground and two others took her cell phone. The assailant who had grabbed her hair then brandished a knife and ??poked? her with it, she said.
Brock said that she was disturbed by the assailants?? demeanor during the assault.
??They laughed the whole time while they were kicking me, pulling my hair, spraying the pepper spray,? she said. ??I think that has to be the most frightening part ?? that this was fun to them.?
Slates said the fight ended after Fossen punched the assailant holding Slates, after which the assailant yelled and ran off with her companions.
The three students then went to the U Street Metro station five blocks away and called the Metropolitan Police Department, Slates said. She and Fossen spoke with the police while Brock, who had sustained a stab wound in the arm, checked herself into Washington Central Hospital.
MPD is investigating the assault but has not yet made any arrests.
Fossen described the assailants as black girls between 18 and 23 years old. She said they were dressed more casually than the rest of the people in the crowd, ??which made them stand out after the concert.?
Slates said she had seen the assailants in an altercation with a patron at the entrance to the 9:30 Club just minutes before the incident. She said she did not see the assailants inside the club.
The only property stolen was Brock??s and Slates?? cell phones, Slates said.
Slates said she believes she and her friends were victims of a random act of violence and could not have avoided the incident.
??I??d heard that [the area] was kind of sketchy, but I hadn??t, and still haven??t, heard of anything happening to anyone else,? she said.
Kisha Shorter, marketing and public relations manager of the 9:30 Club, said that to protect customers, the club employs 15 to 20 security personnel per night, depending on the number of tickets sold. Four staff members stay at the front entrance and check tickets and identification. Others stand in specific areas throughout the club or act as ??floaters? who thread the crowd and monitor the back alley and parking lot. The club also hires off-duty police officers to stand at each corner of the building and in the parking lot.
Shorter added that if patrons feel unsafe, they can ask any of the staff members or hired police officers for an escort.
??I feel horrible that this incident happened near the 9:30 Club, even though it didn??t happen on our premises,? Shorter said. ??We try 100 percent to make sure everything is safe for our customers.?
In late January, a 17-year-old was shot and killed at a U Street Club in late January, causing many District officials to consider banning underage individuals from nightclubs. The movement received much opposition from those who did not want to prohibit teenagers from attending clubs like 9:30, saying that this club was particularly strict in preventing underage drinking. District Councilman Jim Graham introduced legislation in February banning minors from clubs in response to the murder, but a decision has not yet been made.
Brock said she will take several days off from school and return home to recover. She plans to return after Easter Break.
??I am taking a leave of absence, mostly because I wanted to see my family,? Brock said. ??My pain medication is a narcotic, so I wouldn??t have been able to perform well in class. Coming home seemed like the best option.?
Fossen said, coming from southwest Minneapolis, the incident was painful but also a wake-up call.
??It was a learning experience for a Midwestern girl and a bit of a rite of passage,? Fossen said. ??Since the event, almost every city-dweller I??ve talked to has experienced a similar event ?? even my chaplain. I??m just thankful we all came out fine.?
Of the three students, only Fossen said she believes that she will return to the 9:30 Club after the incident. Brock said she had a ticket for another concert later in the month, but that she is hoping the club will offer her a refund.
??Going there would just bring back too many bad memories,? Brock said. ??All of my friends from home want to go, though. They want to come with me and roll in with some baseball bats.?
