President Donald Trump’s federalization of Washington, D.C., on the heels of declaring a “crime emergency,” was met with mixed reactions, but it has also launched a conversation among residents and members of the media about a subject that, for years, has been hidden in plain view.

For instance, ABC News anchor Kyra Phillips mentioned on-air hours after Trump’s declaration that she was “jumped” just two blocks away from her Washington, D.C. studio, “within the last two years.”

Violent crime in the nation’s capital has reportedly dropped since 2023, according to data from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) cited by The Washington Post on Monday. Still, Phillips pointed out that multiple alleged incidents have taken place near ABC News’ Washington, D.C., bureau — including two network employees who were reportedly among the victims.“We’ve been talking so much about the numbers and yeah, usually that’s how you play devil’s advocate, is you talk about, ‘Oh, well stats say crime is down.’ However, I can tell you firsthand here in downtown D.C. where we work right here around our bureau just in the past six months, you know, there were two people shot,” Phillips said. “One person died literally two blocks down here from the bureau.”