January 31, 2023
WASHINGTON, D.C.—An NTD reporter was robbed at gunpoint in Washington on January 28, right outside her apartment complex, adding to concerns about the rising crime rate in the city.
“Give me your phone,” Iris Tao, a White House reporter, said she heard as she stepped outside her apartment.
Tao described the robber as a slim African-American man, about 6’ tall, wearing black from head to toe: a black ski mask, black hat, coat, and black pants with white stripes.
The robbery happened around 8:30 a.m. and no one else was around. Before Tao could react, the robber reached directly into her right puffer jacket pocket and snatched her phone.
“Give me your wallet…otherwise, I’m gonna hit you and smack you,” Tao recalled to Epoch Times, a sister media outlet to NTD.
The robber also demanded Tao’s laptop but went back to demanding her wallet when she maintained she only had books with her.
The robber then demanded Tao’s phone password, which she refused. The suspect then pistol-whipped her and ran off.
“Once he started running away from me, I started yelling: ‘help, help help,’” Tao explained. Two neighbors heard the commotion, came out and called the police.
From January 1 through January 27, the Metropolitan Police Department recorded 2,190 crime cases, including 156 robberies, up 16% from the same period in 2022, according to NTD.
Feature Screenshot via YouTube & Pexels