Montgomery County police responded to a report of an aggravated assault at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda early Thursday afternoon, November 5, 2026. The assault was reported at the mall at 1:00 PM Thursday. It took place in a parking garage on the property. This assault is the third to be reported at the retail center since Westfield instituted a 3:00 PM juvenile curfew on September 28. It is the tenth assault reported at the mall this year. Twelve assaults were recorded at the property in 2025.
19 comments:
Since Nike left DT Bethesda it appears most of these incidents moved to MM. The malls do attract such behavior, just the way its going to be.
This is a routine occurrence in MoCo nowadays.
I don't think the curfew will be ending anytime soon. But clearly there are broader issues. Why folks can't just shop and enjoy what the mall has to offer is way beyond me. We have to assault one and another? Unreal.
Another day another...
JAC - they aren't going there to shop...
1:56 - Sad but true.
This is possibly a "routine occurrence" in Silver Spring and in Wheaton, but it is emphatically NOT routine in 2D, Bethesda district. Aggravated assault is the same as 1st-degee assault. It is a felony. I believe all the postings Robert has made heretofore are for 2nd-degee assaults, which MD law classifies as misdemeanor. That latte can be shoving, spitting, a shoulder-check, etc. Ag assault involves intent to cause serious bodily harm to victim --i.e. " An injury that creates a substantial risk of death, or causes permanent or protracted serious disfigurement, loss of function, or impairment of any bodily member or organ"-- o the use of a firearm. The other stuff, the 2nd-degrees, might be the ante-in for our burgeoning community, but ag assault is a real, "Oh, [merde!]" crime. In MD it carries a 25-year max penalty, and generally requires at least 50% of whatever the sentence meted be served before parole is considered.
This is big-time.
"A difference in degree is a difference in crime"
Thank you. I often forget what the terms mean.
10:35: I will note again that, on the occasions when MCPD has released further details about 2nd-degree assault incidents, they virtually all involved actual physical violence against the victim. So they are certainly incidents of great concern to the community.
Robert, it is true 2nd-degree can, usually does, involve some type of physical contact, but the difference is in severity. A 2nd-degree assault is something where the contact is judged to be not [objectively] significant —e.g. open-palmed shove in the chest, smacking a hand, spitting, etc; it is unwanted touching, but nobody is going to need hospitalization or rehab as a result of the contact. That is not so for agg-assault. For a crime to be charged as agg/1st-degree assault, the contact has to be *significantly* more serious and violent, as I mentioned, above. The intent with assault-1 is to do *serious* bodily harm to the victim.
As you suggest, *any* unwanted contact [at the hands of an assailant] is cause for concern. But for something to rise to 1st-degree, it means the criminal wasn’t just playing around. He either displayed a handgun, or he injured the victim sufficiently to cause hospitalization with substantial trauma, not with a paper cut to the victims finger.
The 25-year maximum penalty in Nightmareland has become the butt of all jokes.
And elswhere, MM is not immune.
Proof that MoCo is not in a bubble.
Oh no, NOT again!
Finding justice in MoCo is like expecting to get a pair of sixes every time you roll a pair of dice.
Desensitization Therapy.
6:45 maybe it's just me, but I'd rather not be shoved, spit on or slapped while at the mall.
Whenever I assault somebody, I am usually agitated... aggravated even.
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