(WASHINGTON) — Three people were killed and three others were wounded in Washington, D.C., in what police suspect was a “targeted” shooting by gunmen who jumped out of a car and opened fire on a group standing near a street corner, authorities said.
The triple-homicide unfolded about 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday in the Brightwood Park neighborhood in the northern part of the nation’s capital, Chief Robert Contee of the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department said at a news conference.
Contee said police officers were in the area when they heard multiple gunshots and raced to the intersection of Seventh and Longfellow streets, where they found six people shot.
He said the wounded individuals were taken to hospitals, where three of them, two men and a woman, were pronounced dead. He said the others suffered non-life-threatening wounds.
On Sunday morning, police identified those killed as 31-year-old Donnetta Dyson, 24-year-old Keenan Braxton and 37-year-old Johnny Joyner, all of Washington, D.C.
Contee released a still image taken near the scene by a police surveillance camera of a dark-colored, four-door Honda Accord the suspected shooters fled the scene in.
“We believe the suspects in this vehicle exited, fired shots into a crowd of individuals that were in the 600 block of Longfellow Street,” Contee said.
He said a reward of $75,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the suspects and added, “I’m pleading for the community’s help” in solving the crime.
Contee said investigators suspect multiple shooters opened fire. He said a firearm was recovered at the scene of the shooting.
“The motive still being investigated,” Contee said. “It appears there were individuals who were hanging out on the block and these individuals for whatever reason were targeted.”
Like in other major cities across the county, shootings and homicides have been on the rise in the District of Columbia. Homicides are up 14% compared to the same period as 2020, and 597 people have been assaulted with guns this year, a 5% increase over last year.
“We know that this issue is not unique to Washington D.C.,” Contee said, “but I think it speaks to the overall sickness that we’re seeing in our community and that sickness is gun violence.”
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