Eight Shot, Two Dead in Washington D.C.

One victim was a six-year-old child.

8.1.2016

Washington D.C had a violent Saturday that left eight people shot, two fatally. One of the shooting victims was a 6-year-old child.

The child was one of eight people shot Saturday in Northwest and Southeast Washington. Two of the victims — a 19-year-old woman in an apartment in Southeast and a 29-year-old man in Columbia Heights — died from their wounds. Their deaths ended a 14-day stretch without a homicide in the District.

The child was shot near a playground in a neighborhood described as "broken and filthy." He was shot in the left leg and was reported to be conscious at the hospital. "D.C. Police Capt. Kelvin Cusick said the circumstances of the shooting were not immediately clear, but it appears that the child was not an intended target when at least one gunman opened fire shortly before 5 p.m. in the 2500 block of Pomeroy Road."

Trayon White, who in June won the Democratic primary for the Ward 8 City Council seat, said the playground is dilapidated and riddled with animal feces.

“There’s a lot of neglect here,” he said. White also said the community needs to step up but “the police have to meet us halfway. MPD has to be present.”

White said the police “need to put a force out greater than what they have here.”

Prior to the Saturday shooting, 70 people had been murdered in D.C. so far this year.