It turned out their first attempt was just practice.

After their initial attempt to break into my Washington, D.C., condo was unsuccessful, two tenacious intruders returned and succeeded on their second daring attempt in a city at the heart of America’s crime debate.

This marked the beginning of a prolonged standoff involving them, the staff of my building, the Washington Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), and, thankfully, the National Guard.

Although I did not directly witness the incident, our building’s management sent an email notifying residents of the break-in. Additionally, I had conversations with three employees from the building, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to safeguard their identities, to understand more about the alarming incident that occurred amidst President Trump’s militarization of the capital city.

It was Friday evening when the two menacing actors had the brilliant idea that they wanted to gain entry to my building in the Southwest Waterfront neighborhood.

The pair’s first attempt to sneak into our building was foiled by an observant front desk security professional who spotted them plotting their entry, according to my building’s management.

After failing to access my building, which the individuals do not live in, they tried again – this time with much more spectacular results.

‘Two individuals gained unauthorized access to [the building] by tailgating behind a resident,’ a Saturday email to residents stated.

Two individuals broke into my Washington, D.C., condo building before heading to our basement and locking themselves in a bathroom in the laundry room

National Guard soldiers arrived to apprehend the individuals, who one building staffer suspected were doing drugs, after the perpetrators had already spent over an hour and a half in the bathroom

Once inside, the pair began roaming around the condo before eventually making their way down to the communal laundry room in the basement.

Down there, they locked themselves in a bathroom and refused to come out for hours, according to building staff.

Though I was not a witness to the events first-hand, our building’s management sent out an email informing residents of the break-in

The condo’s concierge immediately phoned the (MPD), but their response time was unacceptably long, so the National Guard had to intervene to solve the problem.

‘Because the police response was significantly delayed, members of the National Guard, who were patrolling nearby, detained the individuals until MPD arrived,’ the email from management about the incident continued.

MPD did not respond to the Daily Mail’s request for comment.  

Local authorities took over an hour and a half to arrive at my building, a building worker informed me.

The poor front desk concierge was calling for help, but no one was responding.

Eventually, someone decided to flag down a nearby National Guard patrol, one of the set of troops here on order by the president. 

National Guard troops are regularly seen around D.C.’s Southwest Waterfront, and as the building staff awaited the police response, someone from the building, whether it was a staffer or resident is unclear, flagged down a passing patrol and briefed them on the break-in.

My building’s staff waited hours for Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department to arrive and apprehend the suspects. However, not willing to wait longer, someone eventually flagged down the National Guard

Members of the National Guard patrol The Wharf in Washington’s Southwest Waterfront neighborhood on August 25, 2025

Immediately, guard troops made their way into my building and apprehended two teenagers who were barricaded in the laundry room.

The burglars’ motives are still unknown; however, management believes they were using unspecified drugs. Another employee said they did not know about any illicit substance use. 

The National Guard then remained at my building until the MPD finally arrived. 

A National Guard source confirmed to the Daily Mail that the responding unit was from South Carolina. They dealt with a mugging up the street the same evening. 

The whole debacle took hours, according to the building staff.

And in an outrageous ending that appears more commonplace now than ever, once the MPD got there, they decided to let the young criminals go without incident.

Two teenagers broke into my building twice to allegedly use drugs, and once they were turned over to the local cops, they were simply released to go about their day as they pleased.

One of my neighbors, Denise Taylor, an elderly woman, was thoroughly shocked by the break-in.

Denise Taylor, a disabled veteran who lives in my building, called the episode horrifying and admitted she planned on doing laundry Friday evening when the individuals barricaded themselves in the bathroom

‘This really terrifies me, because I’m handicapped. I’m a disabled veteran, and I live alone. So I mean, it’s horrifying to hear what happened in our building where we live. It’s just horrifying.’

Taylor, who uses a mobility scooter, was prepared to do her laundry until the room was taken over, she told the Daily Mail.

‘Friday, I had got my clothes and stuff together, because Friday evening, I know that in the evenings I will go wash clothes,’ she said. ‘And I have my clothes packed right now in bags to take downstairs to [the] laundry, which I was going to do Friday evening.’

‘And I just thank God that I didn’t go down there due to the situation that happened in our building.’

The break-in was only able to occur because the pair of teenagers tailgated a resident into our building, management claims.

They are now urging residents not to allow anyone into the building behind them if they don’t know them personally. Revised guidance on this will be going out to residents soon, a condo staffer told me.

The incident, obviously striking close to home, has made me question whether the American social contract is still valid.

Government exists to protect its people. In exchange, the citizens abide by laws, pay taxes and work within social norms to keep everyday life stable and respectable.

The email sent from the building to its residents the day after the break-in

Those foundational promises, rooted in the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, are currently facing a debate over their efficacy.

If some in my community choose repeatedly to engage in criminal activity, and my government can’t protect me or the most vulnerable among us, like Denise Taylor, are we the people getting screwed?

It sure feels like it. Especially here in DC.

In the six years I’ve lived in the building, there has regularly been crime in my immediate vicinity. There have been multiple shootings on my street since I moved from California after college. At least one that I know about was fatal. That crime involved teenagers, too.

I used to have an app that would give me notifications about local crimes, but I deleted it shortly after downloading because I received far too many notifications, which kept me on edge.

Recently, there have been headlines about stray bullets killing innocent civilians in D.C. A three-year-old girl and a congressional intern were both killed earlier this summer by gunfire that they were not the target of. Again, teenage criminals were behind the intern’s untimely death.

I, for one, am delighted to have the National Guard in town to provide a sense of stability that has been lacking.

As someone who does not commit crimes, I am not deterred by their guns or camouflage. I actually try to thank them when I see them around the metro stations and while they are out on patrol.

Without their intervention on Friday night, it is unclear how the situation with the burglars would have been resolved.

Should those who live in apartments or condominiums hold the door for individuals they don’t know? My building’s staff and I both believe that answer is no.

Crime is not new in D.C., and it’s not new for most major cities in the US. But how we approach it as a society must change.

If you’re a tattooed delivery driver who does not speak English and you expect me to let you into my building to drop off that bag of McDonald’s, I’m not letting you inside.

If you’re a dapper, suit-wearing Capitol Hill staffer-looking young professional, and I don’t know you, you’re not getting in either.

Those are just the building’s rules, but now they are mine too.

You may consider adopting those tenants too, lest you risk a laundry room standoff like my community.

But having the National Guard as a backup is nice, too.