Democracy Dies in Darkness
Local Crime & Public Safety

81-year-old fatally beaten with sledgehammer by angry colleague, police say

Charles Gilbert Short Sr. was brutally attacked by a co-worker with a shovel and a sledgehammer in D.C., police say.

By
May 10, 2024 at 7:13 p.m. EDT
4 min

He worked 44 years at the same family-owned construction company in Northeast Washington. He started in demolition — breaking up sidewalks, tearing down walls and ripping out windows.

By the age of 81, Charles Gilbert Short Sr. drove a pickup truck delivering rented air compressors and other equipment to construction sites across the D.C. region.