Three men are under arrest in connection with a triple shooting in D.C. on Quincy Place Northeast Wednesday night.
D.C. police now believe it was retaliation for a deadly mass shooting near a senior home on O Street Northwest earlier Wednesday.
The first shooting happened at O and North Capitol Streets Northwest, near New York Avenue, around 12:45 p.m.
D.C. police said witnesses told investigators a small black SUV that was traveling south on North Capitol Street made a right onto O Street and stopped. At least two people stepped out and began shooting at people standing on the block.
Five people were shot, and two men were pronounced dead at the scene.
“We believe now that this was certainly a targeted incident at individuals who were in the block,” said D.C. police Chief Robert Contee, speaking to reporters after a graduation ceremony for the D.C. Peace Academy, which trains individuals to work as peacemakers and violence interrupters in District neighborhoods with the highest rates of violence.
Police are still looking for a black 2020 Hyundai Santa Fe with Virginia license plates in connection with the O Street shooting.
🚨HAVE YOU SEEN THIS VEHICLE?🚨
MPD is seeking assistance in locating this suspect vehicle in connection to the shooting that just occurred in the unit block of O Street, NW.
Have info? Call (202) 727-9099/text 50411 pic.twitter.com/1srKmPEIS8
— DC Police Department (@DCPoliceDept) August 24, 2022
Hours later Wednesday, around 7:20 p.m., another shooting happened only blocks away, in the area of Quincy Place near North Capitol Street in Northeast.
Police said when they arrived, they found two men with gunshot wounds. Another man had walked to a nearby hospital for treatment of a gunshot wound. Police described all three victims’ injuries as not life-threatening.
Contee said there were D.C. officers nearby, who quickly located the vehicle believed to be involved in the second shooting. Officers briefly pursued the vehicle and ultimately took three men into custody.
The suspects are identified as Kharee Jackson, 29, of Northwest; Pernell Jackson, 35, of Northeast; and Charles Turner, 35, of Oxon Hill, Maryland.
Contee said police recovered five firearms — including two automatic rifles — from those individuals.
“Based upon our investigation now, we certainly believe that this was some retaliation for the shooting that occurred earlier,” Contee said. “And now we are continuing with the investigation to really understand what led to the initial shooting.”
The chief commented on the fact that the two men who died were 53 and 43 years old, and the men targeted in the triple shooting later were in their 50s, while more typical shooting victims are in their 20s and 30s.
“That’s something that we don’t normally see,” Contee said. “So again, we are really trying to understand the dynamics of what happened, why it happened, and the people that are involved, especially when the ages are not what we typically see.”
At a media briefing shortly after the initial shooting Wednesday, executive assistant chief for D.C. police Ashan Benedict said it may have been drug related, but Contee backed away from that theory.
“At this point, based upon what we know, I would not say that this is totally drug related,” Contee said. “We just don’t know.”
Reporters asked if the chief thought the shooting was the result of a turf war between rival gangs.
“I wouldn’t call it a turf war,” Contee said. “I say we have a dispute between people. When we have disputes between individuals, and you add illegal firearms or automatic firearms to the situation you have bad outcomes.”
Contee made a plea for public cooperation with their investigation.
“We cannot move these cases forward as quickly as we like when we do not have community cooperation,” Contee said. “And the community has been cooperating in a lot of the cases we’ve had recent success on, so I want to continue to encourage that.”
Investigators will be working to retrieve whatever video there may be from a business, private residence or vehicle and make that part of their investigation “to put forth a successful case to the United States Attorney’s Office,” Contee said.
Police ask anyone with information about either shooting or the location of the dark Hyundai Santa Fe involved in the initial shooting to call 202-727-9099 or text anonymously at 50411.
