Thread: Eleven people shot on D.C. street corner overnight

Eleven people shot on D.C. street corner overnight

Video: The Metropolitan Police Department has released surveillance video capturing an early morning drive-by shooting in Northwest D.C. on camera. Eleven people were injured when gunmen opened fire in front of a crowd outside an apartment building.


By Peter Hermann and matt Zapotosky,

Mar 11, 2013 04:21 PM EDT
The Washington Post

A drive-by shooting early Monday on a D.C. street corner that has been repeatedly touched by violence left 11 people wounded, one of them seriously, police said.
Investigators are seeking information about two cars that were seen driving past Tyler House — an eight-story, subsidized residential building on the south side of New York Avenue at North Capitol Street — at the time of the shooting, approximately 2:10 a.m.. Occupants of at least one of the vehicles opened fire on a crowd of people standing on the sidewalk, police said.

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(Matt Zapotsky/ The Washington Post ) - D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier gives a press conference near New York Avenue and North Capitol Street in D.C. after an overnight shooting where as many as 11 people were wounded.

Gunmen in two cars fired into a crowd outside an apartment building early Monday. (Courtesy of WJLA)

Several people were shot Monday morning outside an eight-story housing building at New York Avenue at North Capitol Street.

I wake up in an awesome mood, turn on the news and see a drive by mass shooting... Sick to my stomach. We gotta do better.
— DeMetria Lynia (@DeMetria_Lynia) March 11, 2013

Those wounded in the shooting — the youngest of whom was 17 — were struck mostly in the arms and legs, D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said. Assistant Police Chief Peter Newsham said the seriously injured victim was hit in the back. None of the injuries are considered life-threatening.
Based on initial witness accounts, detectives believed that one of the vehicles involved in the shooting may have been a dark-colored BMW. They described the other as a light gray or silver sedan. But after reviewing the surveillance video, police said the make of the darker sedan is not clear.
Details of the shooting remained sketchy Monday morning, with police adjusting the time of the incident at least twice, from just after 2 a.m. to 2:45 a.m. to 2:10 a.m. Detectives and technicians spent hours at the intersection early Monday, collecting evidence such as spent shell casings. Officers also were interviewing witnesses and victims scattered at three city hospitals.
The shooting occurred directly across New York Avenue from the Big Ben Liquor store, on the northern edge of the District’s up-and-coming “NoMa” (north of Massachusetts Avenue) district.
Cranes loom overhead, marking new construction that is rapidly filling the empty lots that once dotted the area. New condos, stores and office complexes are being built among apartment complexes that for decades have housed lower-income city residents.
The development activity comes despite sporadic bursts of violence in the neighborhood, including shootings on consecutive weekends in October, outside Big Ben, that wounded a total of seven people.
Police at the time said that those shootings may have stemmed from a dispute between residents from north of New York Avenue, around 1st and O streets NW, and people living at Tyler House to the south. No arrests have been made. No one died in the October shootings, but a 14-year-old boy who was shot in the abdomen was seriously injured.
Authorities said it was too early to know of a motive in Monday’s shooting. They were investigating whether some or all of the victims may have come from a large nightclub located less than a block away, and whether events at the nightclub from earlier in the evening may have been a factor in the shootings. The club closed shortly before the shooting.
As the sun rose hours later, a steady stream of motorists flowed past police vehicles on New York Avenue, headed to work downtown. But aside from investigators, there were few people on the sidewalks as rush hour got underway.
One man who lives two doors away from Big Ben emerged from a basement apartment for a walk with his dog.
He said he had slept through the gunfire — and he had to be reminded of the shootings in October, which had occurred right outside his front door.
“It’s not as bad as it seems on TV,” said the 30-year-old man, who did not want to give his name. “The liquor store brings a lot of drunk people to the corner, but that’s about it.”
Police are urging anyone with information about Monday’s shooting to call 202-727-9099. A reward of up to $10,000 is being offered by the police department for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a suspect.
　
　
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/up-to-11-people-shot-on-dc-street-corner-overnight/2013/03/11/d7c5197e-8a39-11e2-a051-6810d606108d_story.html