Police urging unknown Southeast shooter to come clean

WASHINGTON — The D.C. police department is appealing to a shooter, whose stray gunfire severely injured a 7-year-old girl in Southeast on Friday, to submit to authorities.

“I can’t imagine someone like that not turning themselves in, knowing that they’re responsible for causing this injury to such a young little girl,” said D.C. Police Assistant Chief Peter Newsham at a Monday news conference.

Newsham said an altercation involving a small group of people lead to the gunfire Friday around 9:40 p.m. in the 2900 block of Knox Avenue Southeast, an area plagued by recent violence.

“The community has been awesome so far in coming forth with details on this case,” Newsham said.

There is a reward of up to $10,000 for information that leads to a conviction.

“We are pretty confident that there are some folks out there that have additional information regarding this case,” Newsham said.

Detectives are working to find the shooter, according to Newsham, who said police are confident they’ll solve the case.

The wounded child is in fair condition. Newsham believes fast action by the girl’s father to stop her bleeding likely saved the child’s life.

“To be in that situation, for him to act the way that he did under that type of pressure is amazing,” Newsham said. “It’s remarkable and it’s very heroic.”

The child was wounded while returning from dinner, walking close to home with her father and 4-year-old brother.

“It’s very frustrating for us to see something like this,” Nesham said, describing the spate of gunfire as brazen. “I know that MPD and that community are going to work together to get to the bottom of this.”