D.C. Remembers 1977 Hostage Standoff

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WHEN YOU THINK of brazen, meticulously planned attacks in the District in the past half-century or so, the assaults by Puerto Rican nationalists on the U.S. Capitol in 1954 and Blair House in 1954 in might come to mind, along with the 1976 Sheridan Circle car bombing. The District today is remembering the 30th anniversary of another coordinated attack — this one on the Wilson Building, pictured at left, the B'nai B'rith International Center and the Washington Islamic Center by a group of Hanafi Muslims.

Today, The Post's Theresa Vargas details the horrible events from the 1977 incident, in which 12 gunmen held 150 people hostage and shot a number of people, including Marion Barry, who nearly died from his wounds.

Maurice Williams, a reporter for WHUR radio, was shot and killed during the assault on what was then known as the District Building. Today, the pressroom in the Wilson Building is being renamed in Williams' honor.

» "'Some Things You Never Forget'" [WaPo]

Photo by Michael Robinson-Chavez/The Washington Post