The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Two killed, six wounded in Southeast D.C. shooting

September 17, 2016 at 9:25 p.m. EDT

Two men were killed and at least six other people, including a small boy, were wounded Saturday night when gunfire broke out during a community concert in Southeast Washington.

The boy who was wounded in the shooting in the Anacostia/Barry Farm area was thought to be about 8 years old, said interim D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham.

One of the wounded was described as a female, but no age was given. All six appeared to have suffered wounds that were not life-threatening, Newsham said at the scene.

It was also reported that a seventh person may also have been hit, then fled for help at a nearby firehouse.

At a briefing Saturday night, Newsham said he understood that the gunfire was prompted by a dispute. But no information was available about the subject of the dispute, and whether it had arisen during the event or had existed beforehand.

“We had a big event here on private property in a private parking lot,” said Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), calling on community residents to help police with information that could bring “people with illegal guns” to justice.

As did the mayor, Newsham deplored the violence that interrupted what appeared to be a major community event. Some described it as an annual celebration that includes go-go bands.

“Folks ought to be able to come out here and enjoy a nice event on a nice evening,” Newsham said.

Neighborhood residents also voiced their opposition to what several saw as recurring violence.

“When is it going to stop?” asked one of them, Ronald Jones.

Paul Trantham, an Advisory Neighborhood Commission member in Southeast Washington said that “everybody in the community should be outraged.”

There was no immediate report of any arrest.

Birney Place, where the shooting occurred, is a U-shaped residential street lined by three-story red-brick apartment houses. It intersects Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue at both ends of the “U.”

It is west of Suitland Parkway and east of Interstate 295, and is about a quarter-mile south of the Anacostia Metro station.

The number of killed and wounded was one of the largest in a shooting in the Washington area in some time.

At least two other shootings were reported Saturday night: one on 53rd Street SE, and the other on Just Street NE.

Police said they understood that many people live-streamed the concert or made videos, and they asked that images be made available to investigators.