A day after multiple separate shootings across D.C., one man is dead and three others are wounded, including a child, following a shooting on Georgia Avenue in Northwest Tuesday night.
Tuesday’s shooting happened before 6 p.m. in the 6200 block of Georgia Avenue. D.C. police Chief Robert Contee said a small SUV was traveling on Georgia Avenue from which two suspects got out into traffic and fired shots at some young men standing around another vehicle.
Three men were struck, as well as a child, who is 8 years old. One of the men, identified as 33-year-old Benjie Byers, of Northwest D.C., was pronounced dead on the scene. Two other men and the child were taken to the hospital for treatment.
Contee said the child was not the intended target and appeared to be just on the sidewalk when the shooting happened.
“We don’t know what the motive is. We don’t know why someone would do such a reckless act at 6 p.m. on Georgia Avenue,” Contee said during a news conference. “We aim to find out and hold those individuals accountable.”
Contee is asking the community for additional information regarding the shooting, including the suspect vehicle, which police said was a black Infiniti SUV with silver decal on the roof traveling southbound on Georgia Avenue, said WTOP’s Mike Murillo, who reported from the scene.
Anyone with more information should call D.C. police at 202-727-9099.
Contee said that police are very concerned about a retaliatory event.
“We know historically sometimes there are neighborhood disputes,” Contee said, adding that police do not yet know why the men were targeted.
Out of an abundance of caution, however, resources will be pulled to different parts of the 4th District “to prepare for any potential retaliation” and to “heighten our visibility,” Contee said.
The shooting, which took place steps away from the 4th District police station, “speaks to the brazenness of these individuals,” Contee said. Moreover, Contee said it should be concerning and “tick off everyone in the community” that somebody could do this during a busy rush hour.
Edwin Benitez has lived in the neighborhood for more than 20 years, and he said the more than 30 shots he heard sounded like an exchange of gunfire with possibly two guns involved. Contee said there was no exchange of gunfire.
Benitez said he has seen an increase in violence, such as gun violence, armed robberies and carjackings, in the neighborhood.
“It’s getting out of hand. I’ve never seen something like this,” Benitez said. “On a main street like this, where people are walking past … it’s insane to me.”
Benitez called on for District leaders to do something. “The city needs to do something about it. It’s not just the police officers at this point. It’s the city.”
D.C. Council member Janeese Lewis George, who represents the ward where the shooting happened, said on Twitter that gun violence has no place in the District.
Just left the scene in Brightwood where our community suffered a heartbreaking shooting that took one life and injured three others, including a young child with non-life threatening injuries. This gun violence should anger each and every one of us. It has no place in our city.
— CM Janeese Lewis George (@CMLewisGeorgeW4) January 4, 2023
Below is the area where it happened.
WTOP’s Mike Murillo, who reported from Northwest D.C., contributed to this report.
