WASHINGTON — Three men were rushed to the hospital after a shooting in Southeast D.C. and two other people were shot in separate incidents later Thursday afternoon, continuing a streak of gun violence in the District that has outraged the community and put pressure on city leaders to respond.
The first shooting happened about noon Thursday when someone in a tan-colored sedan drove up to a group of men standing in front of a strip-mall carryout on 22nd Street in Southeast, and opened fired, D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham said.
Two of the men had injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening, but the third man’s injuries were very serious and detectives had been sent to the hospital to check on his condition, Newsham said.
Police did not provide a specific description of the suspect but released these photos of the suspect’s car.
A few hours later, a woman was shot shortly before 3 p.m. in the 2300 block of Hartford Street in Southeast. Police said they were looking for an older red Toyota. About an hour later, a man was wounded in a shooting in the 4000 block of Kansas Avenue in Northwest. Police said they were looking for a Hispanic man last seen on a yellow bike heading toward 13th Street and Spring Road in Northwest.
The triple shooting came a day after police leadership demoted police Ward 7 Commander Regis Bryant following a violent Memorial Day weekend in D.C., in which police responded to 10 shootings. Four people were killed and at least three injured in the weekend’s violence.
Bryant was named commander of the year in 2017.
D.C. police confirm Commander Andre Wright will move into the position Sunday.
At a news conference earlier this week, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser called the recent shootings “an unacceptable spike in violence.”
D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham pointed to the too-easy availability of illegal firearms in the District. He said many of the recent shootings have stemmed from disputes between people who knew each other and spiraled out of control after someone pulled out a gun.
In one of the shootings early Saturday, community activist and entrepreneur Alexander Mosby was gunned down. In another incident over the weekend, a husband and wife in Southwest D.C. were killed after a dispute between two families, leaving five children orphaned.
In response to the weekend’s violence, Newsham said he increased the number of officers in Wards 7 and 8 by 25 percent.
