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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Staffer for Rand Paul on Homeland Security committee stabbed

By Emily Davies Washington Post

WASHINGTON – A staffer who works for Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was stabbed Saturday evening on a busy commercial street in northeast Washington, D.C., according to a statement from the senator and public records.

The staffer, who did not respond to requests for comment, works for Paul on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, according to the name on the police report, which matched the employee listed in the database of congressional salaries.

The staffer sustained life-threatening injuries but was considered stable while awaiting surgery to address a punctured lung and potential internal and brain bleeding, according to charging documents.

The staffer told police in an interview from the hospital that he did not know the man who stabbed him or why he was attacked, according to the charging document. The Washington Post does not generally name surviving crime victims without their consent.

“This past weekend a member of my staff was brutally attacked in broad daylight in Washington, D.C.,” Paul said in the statement on Monday. “I ask you to join Kelley and me in praying for a speedy and complete recovery, and thanking the first responders, hospital staff, and police for their diligent actions. We are relieved to hear the suspect has been arrested.”

The incident occurred about 5:15 p.m. on the 1300 block of H Street Northeast.

Police on Saturday arrested 42-year-old Glynn Neal of southeast Washington and charged him with assault with intent to kill in the incident, D.C. police said Monday. He was released from prison a day before the attack, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator. Neal was convicted in 2011 on two counts of pandering.

The attorney listed for Neal in court documents did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Neal told police, according to the charging document, that “a voice was telling him that someone was going to get him for all the things he done. So (Neal) was waiting right there to get the someone.”

The attack came four days before the House Oversight Committee is set to hold a hearing on crime and public safety in the nation’s capital, which is expected to focus broadly on D.C.’s approach to reducing violent crime. In advance of the hearing, Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), said that “radical left-wing policies have led to a crime crisis” in Washington, D.C., and vowed to “conduct oversight of the policies that have plagued our capital city.”

As of Monday, homicides in Washington, D.C., were up 16 percent compared to the same time in 2022, a year when the city surpassed 200 killings for only the second time in about two decades. Property crime was also up – by about 27 percent year-over-year – while overall violent crime has remained steady compared to the same time last year.