WASHINGTON — A gunman pulled up next to a car in Southeast D.C. Thursday afternoon and fatally shot a man and woman inside, said D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham.
Around 5 p.m., a white sedan pulled up next to another vehicle in the 3700 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Southeast and opened fire on a man and woman inside. Police believe it was a targeted attack, Newsham said at a Thursday evening news conference.
The woman was pronounced dead at the scene; the man was transported to the hospital where he later died. The victims did not appear to have a family relationship and police are still working to determine “what kind of relationship they had,” Newsham said.
The suspect vehicle, a gray 2004 Nissan Sentra, drove away after the shooting, Newsham said.
D.C. police are searching for at least two suspects in the case and describe them as two black men, one of whom wore a white T-shirt and carried a silver pistol with an extended magazine. The other suspect was last seen driving the Nissan Sentra.
Police are asking anyone who may have seen anything to call police at 202-727-9099.
The fatal shooting in Southeast happened about 10 minutes before another serious shooting in the 200 block of 50th Street Northeast.
In the Northeast shooting, a man was shot multiple times and is in “very critical condition,” Newsham said.
Newsham said it’s unlikely the suspects in the Southeast shooting are responsible for the Northeast shooting.
“It’s unlikely because of the time and distance it would take for this car to get up there; it’s unlikely that they are related, but we don’t know for sure,” he said.
Police have not released any additional details about the victims or what led to the shootings.
Newsham said days like this highlight that there is too much gun violence in the District and said the department is working to mitigate it.
“Police are out here trying to remove the illegal firearms from the community, trying to address these repeat violent offenders,” he said. “We are going to let the folks know in the community, this type of thing, we just aren’t to tolerate it. It’s not going to happen.”
WTOP’s Zeke Hartner contributed to this report.
