FYI: for any friends and relatives reading, do not panic. I'm fine. I will continue to be fine. And maybe, because of my phone call, so will other people.
Late, late on Thursday evening I eventually realized that the person outside screaming was seriously screaming for help. It took a while to notice because one of my roommates frequently is absurdly loud at late hours so I've learned to ignore her. But eventually it seemed like some investigation was warranted.
It turns out that as she was coming home, right in front of the house, she was accosted. A shiny black car had pulled up and a short hispanic-looking man wearing a long white t-shirt had gotten out and brandished a knife. He took her purse and touched her inappropriately, but then ran off. We found her in the aftermath when she was giving the description to the police.
It was concerning because from time to time I walk home after dark. Not too often because it gets dark so late these days and I get sleepy so early... but sometimes. I'm not stupid or reckless about it, but it's my world and I refuse to cower from it. Still, all weekend I felt sort of squeemish about asserting my independence so overtly (ironic, I thought, given the Independence Day celebrations.) For instance, when I came home late on Friday I took a cab from the metro. What a stupid waste of money: $6 to go 4 short blocks. Otherwise I feel completely safe in my neighborhood. I might worry about petty crime, of things being taken if they aren't nailed down, but I have no reason to fear violent people lurking in the shadows.
Today I happened to have been watching the local news - something I rarely do - and I caught a mention of an assault on Friday on a woman in Alexandria. I didn't pay much attention until they included a description: two hispanic-looking men... long white t-shirt... shiny black car.
The similarities were too striking to be coincidence. But who was going to make the connection? This assault was in Virginia. On Thursday it was in DC, and the 911 call would be recorded on Maryland's tapes.
I used to work in a newsroom and I knew that there were certain kinds of calls from viewers that would actually be helpful. (So many weren't: every 5 minutes people would call objecting to something I had no power to do anything about.) So I tracked down the number for the station's newsroom (which took quite a bit of research since they don't publicize it) and let them know about the other assault. The woman who took the information was interested and will go call the DC police to confirm the connection, if there is one.
I think this was the right way to handle it. I could have called the police, but which police? And since I wasn't a party to it they might not take me seriously in the same way that they would a news desk (something I else I learned from my former job). Plus the news would have an incentive to break a story about a serial predator, whereas I got the distinct sense, judging from the lackadaisical comportment of the cops when they came on the scene, that they might be unmotivated to do the same. The different jurisdictions, plus being busy with ordinary holiday mischief, would also make it harder to put these pieces together on their own accord.
I actually feel much better about the situation now though, having made this connection. I didn't feel comfortable before when I was worried my neighborhood was being targetted. Knowing that the entire metropolitan area is being targetted is almost a strange relief.