Fewer people are being killed in D.C. and more suspected killers are getting arrested, according to new data from D.C. police.
The District’s homicide rate has dropped sharply in 2025, with roughly 30 percent fewer killings compared to this time last year. And D.C. police data shows that, as of Nov. 21, they’ve closed nearly four homicide cases for every five they’ve opened this year. If that persists through the end of the year, it would mark the city’s highest homicide case clearance rate since 2013.
Of the 124 people who have been killed in D.C. so far this year, D.C. police say they’ve cleared 58 cases. Police have cleared another 40 homicide cases from previous years, a tally that counts as part of this year’s clearance rate. Some homicide cases involve multiple arrests.
The low homicide and high clearance rates both represent a dramatic rebound from 2023, the District’s deadliest year in more then two decades during which police clearance rate was 52 percent.
President Donald Trump has cracked down on crime in the nation’s capital, ordering a 30-day emergency in August during which he federalized the city’s police department and deployed the National Guard. He described D.C. as “a situation of complete and total lawlessness,” a characterization D.C. leaders resented as violent crime had receded in 2024 and continued to do so in 2025. The emergency declared by Trump spanned from Aug. 11 through Sept. 10 — but an order from D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) indefinitely extended the collaboration between local and federal law enforcement and National Guard troops remain in D.C.
In the wake of the Wednesday attack that killed one National Guard member and critically injured another, National Guard troops patrolling in D.C. will be paired with local law enforcement personnel, at least temporarily, according to an email obtained by The Washington Post and two D.C. police officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss planning that is still in progress.
D.C. police made the most homicide arrests in September, during the law enforcement surge, with 19 homicide arrests compared to just two last September. June and October are tied for second-most homicide arrests this year at 14 each.
When asked if the recent federal law enforcement collaboration has played a role in case closure rates, a D.C. police spokesperson did not reference the joint patrols first ordered by Trump and continued by Bowser. Instead, in a statement, they thanked department detectives, community members, prosecutors and members of the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force — a long-standing, multiagency effort responsible for apprehending fugitives wanted for violent crimes.
“While no arrest can undo the pain of losing a loved one, each arrest represents a step toward accountability and healing,” D.C. police spokesperson Tom Lynch said. “Our current case closure rate reflects the dedication of our members who work tirelessly to hold those who harm others accountable.”
D.C. police report their case clearance rates to the FBI, which mandates that to classify a case as cleared, police must either make an arrest or prove exceptional means — meaning police have identified the suspect and gathered enough evidence to make an arrest, but a circumstance beyond their control stops them. Those circumstances include the death of the suspect, the victim refusing to cooperate in prosecution or another jurisdiction refusing to extradite the suspect.
This month alone, D.C. police have arrested men accused of fatally stabbing someone in a bustling nightlife strip, hitting and killing a delivery driver while fleeing from police, smothering a 3-year-old girl to death and killing a National Guard member.
Last month, police arrested a manaccused of murdering a congressional intern and a teenage girl in separate attacks over the summer. The mother of Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, a 21-year-old college student interning in Washington, said the arrest came a as a relief. She believed “it was an angel that came down and helped the police to make an arrest in this case,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said in a news conference announcing the arrest.
As of Nov. 26, D.C. police have arrested 104 people suspected of committing homicide — four more than the total number of homicide arrests D.C. police made total last year, when there were 187 homicides.
But statistics, however encouraging, are little solace to the families left grieving their loved ones, many still waiting for police to arrest their killers.
LaKia Magruder calls the police department on the 20th of every month. Her son, Kian-Wayne Magruder, was fatally shot while supporting his girlfriend’s son at a D.C. elementary school track and field meet on May 20. Police haven’t yet made an arrest connected to his killing and LaKia Magruder said she often fights the urge to call the detectives assigned to her son’s case, reminding herself they have work to do and must be busy. But she fears her son will be forgotten, and so she calls every month to remind them. November marked six months.
Next week, Kian-Wayne Magruder would have turned 32, she said. Then, it’s on to the first Christmas and New Year’s without him.
“I just want justice for my son at this point,” she said.
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