Listening to the daily chatter of police radio scanners, Larry Calhoun, 37, of Forestville, Maryland, quickly built a Twitter following earlier this year by reporting on area shootings.
But just a few months into his social media venture, Calhoun was shot just three blocks from his home.
Shocked to be a victim of gun violence in his own neighborhood that he considers safe after moving from the violence of the D.C. neighborhood where he grew up, Calhoun faces a long recovery after a bullet shattered two bones in his left arm.
It happened on Thursday, July 16, in the 3100 block of Forestville Road, while Calhoun, who manages two retail stores, was driving to work.
“Had my windows down, this is broad daylight, 10:30, the sun is shining … I’m just driving, single shot rang out … I knew this was a gunshot, kind of startled, but then I realized that I’m hit,” Calhoun said.
The bullet crashed through the driver’s door and into his left arm, Calhoun said. He managed to pull to the side of the road and was taken first to Prince George’s Hospital Center before undergoing surgery in Baltimore at the Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland, he said.
“The neighborhood I grew up in Norheast D.C. was pretty rough. I’ve actually been in one drive-by shootout as a kid, playing outside, someone just driving by shooting,” said Calhoun, who escaped injury that time.
“The shot just rang out, came through the door panel and struck me, and I immediately knew I was hit because I couldn’t move my arm,” he said.
Prince George’s County police are investigating the shooting.
“We want to speak to the driver of what we believe to be a black Ford Focus seen in the area, ” said Prince George’s County police spokeswoman Christina Cotterman. Anyone with information is asked to call 1-866-411-TIPS.
Calhoun feels certain he was an unintended target.
“I stay to myself, go to work. I have a 7-year-old son; I’m a proud dad … right now I do feel comfortable that I was not targeted, personally, but was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Calhoun said.
Calhoun who tweets by the handle “DC REAL TIME NEWS,” said he turned to Twitter during the pandemic while at home when his stores were forced to close.
He devoted time to listening to police radio calls and reporting on local violence because he said he noticed, even as a child, that many shootings happen without ever being reported.
“It’s just one person shot. So many of those are not reported and those are humans out there, those are someone’s family member, and they deserve their story to be told or just the public knowing that something happened to someone,” he said.
