A wave of gun violence marred Fourth of July celebrations across the nation’s capital from late Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning, including a mass shooting during a Northeast D.C. block party.
Around 1 a.m. Wednesday, D.C. police reported that nine people were shot during an outdoor celebration on the 4700 block of Meade Street NE. Leslie Parsons, assistant chief of the D.C. police’s investigative services bureau, stated that suspects in a dark-colored SUV raced down the street, firing “recklessly” into the crowd before fleeing.
Among the nine injured were two minors, ages 10 and 17. All nine victims are expected to survive. Some victims self-transported to the hospital, while first responders transported others.
Police believe the gunfire was targeted at the residents attending the celebration, and are working to determine why. As of Wednesday afternoon, no suspects had been taken into custody, but police were seeking a blue Hyundai Tucson with D.C. tags GC5338 seen on surveillance footage.
“We have too many guns and too many violent people in the street, and we all need to do everything possible to prevent people who have guns from using them in our city,” Mayor Muriel Bowser said at a media briefing later Wednesday.
Addressing community anxieties about violent crime in the District, Bowser noted that the Metropolitan Police Department was at “full deployment” during the holiday festivities. She added that the city’s public safety officials are working “around the clock” to ensure residents’ safety.
Assisting police throughout the District were 28 of what City Administrator Kevin Donahue called Safety Go Teams, consisting of over 100 non-law enforcement members who monitor neighborhoods with a history of gun violence and report increasing tensions to police for proper response. However, Donahue stated, those teams cannot control or halt every instance of violence.
“Our city must deploy as many public safety and public health resources as possible. That includes police, violence interrupters, and coordinating our federal and regional partners throughout the entire public safety ecosystem,” Ward 7 D.C. Council member Vince Gray said in a statement.
“While we work to overcome MPD staffing shortages — including legislation I introduced earlier this year to assist in MPD recruitment and retention — I echo every resident’s concern about public safety and their frustration with recurring violence.”
Parsons appealed to anyone with relevant information, including photos or videos, to call the police at 202-727-9099. Tips can also be sent anonymously by texting 50411.
In separate incidents unrelated to the Meade Street shooting, two men were killed in shootings on the Fourth of July.
Officers found a man, who was not breathing, around 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday at the intersection of North Capitol and Patterson streets NE. Three hours later, another man was shot near the 4000 block of Livingston Road SE. He was taken to the hospital, where he later died.
On Wednesday, police identified the victim in the Livingston Road shooting as 28-year-old Nathaniel Holmes, a Southeast D.C. resident.
A man was shot and fatally injured on Catholic University’s Michigan Avenue campus around 8 a.m. Wednesday. A preliminary investigation suggested the victim and suspected shooter knew each other, according to Parsons.
