Two people have been confirmed dead and three more are wounded after a shooting in Washington, DC.
The gunfire erupted on Wednesday afternoon at the corner of O Street NW and North Capitol Street, north of New York Avenue in the neighbourhood of Truxton Circle, according to NBC Washington.
Shortly after, the Washington Metropolitan Police Department tweeted an image of a vehicle they believe is connected to the shooting.
The Executive Assistant Chief of DC Police Ashan Benedict told a press conference that a call came in at around 12.49pm and that officers were at the scene within a minute of the shooting. He added that the three injured individuals were able to walk to area hospitals.
According to a preliminary investigation based on witness testimony, “a small black SUV was proceeding southbound on North Capitol Street, made a right on O street and stopped the vehicle in front of” a senior citizens’ home, Mr Benedict said.
“At least two shooters exited the vehicle and began shooting at folks that were on the block. They were either in chairs or standing,” Mr Benedict said. “The individuals got back in that black SUV and went westbound on O Street. At this point, the individuals that were shot ... appear to be all adult black males.”
“We had two people shot overnight on the 200 block of Florida Avenue Northwest and it doesn't appear related to this at all. And then we had a homicide on Minnesota Avenue as well. That appeared to be an argument that escalated and it doesn't appear to be related to this as well,” he added.
He said the area where the shooting took place “appears to be an open-air drug market. MPD routinely polices this area and makes arrests for narcotics violations but our folks, unfortunately, get back out. This is an ongoing problem for us so we need the community's help to continue to quell the disturbance in this area”.
The assistant chief said he didn’t know if any of those who were shot were residents at the senior citizens’ home but added that they don’t “appear to be on the older side”.
Based on “very early information,” Mr Benedict said he believes seven shots were fired and that semiautomatic pistols or rifles were used by the two shooters.
He noted that a school near the scene was briefly put on lockdown.
“This is a sensitive neighbourhood, a lot of our neighbourhoods are sensitive. We have crime spikes in certain areas, and a lot of our resources go towards where intelligence drives. So this block is known to us,” he said.
“The causes of our homicides for are multifaceted. They're ... drug-related, they're crew related, they're crimes of passion and they're random acts of violence, occasionally, and they are arguments that escalate,” Mr Benedict added.
“The best we can do is go after those people that we know are shooters ... and keep them behind bars,” he said.
“I would just ask people to settle their problems in a different way. A lot of these things just escalate for no reason and that involves gunplay and there's a lot of guns in this city.”
Mr Benedict said that DC Police has seized more guns this year than in all of 2021 – more than 2,000 firearms have been recovered.
He added that the shooting didn’t appear to be part of a “turf war,” but that it was “possibly drug-related”.
“We're going to need the public's assistance on this. Anybody who has video or any other type of information that they can provide to us, please call us at 202-727-9099 or you can text us anonymously at 50411,” Mr Benedict told the assembled press.
