Dick Uliano, wtop.com
WASHINGTON – Two young boys and their chaperone are recovering in a hospital after they were shot Monday near an apartment complex in Southeast D.C.
Police say the shooting suspect was aiming at someone else when the kids, ages 6 and 7, were shot. The boys were among a group of about 30 kids who were walking to lunch around noon for a free community lunch program.
District Police Chief Cathy Lanier visited the children in the hospital on Tuesday morning.
“The children are terrified,” she tells Channel 8.
Lanier says she was struck by how small they are.
“We want to take this shooter off the street because these kids are scared,” she says. “I mean, they are just little babies.”
Investigators believe the intended target ran by the children.
The suspect is described as a heavy-set black man with a dark complexion and long dreadlocks pulled into a ponytail. He was wearing a white shirt at the time of the shooting.
The 7-year-old boy was shot in the shoulder and seriously wounded. The 6-year-old boy and an adult chaperone were both shot in the ankles, according to police.
The group of children, ages 6 to 12, were standing on the sidewalk at 19th and Savannah Streets in Southeast D.C., taking part in a program sponsored by the Parkland community.
A neighbor, who identified himself as Alonte, heard the gunfire.
“It was a lot of shots – probably five or six shots,” he said.
Police say they also want to talk to the gunman’s intended target, who fled the scene.
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