Substitute while the actions of the article are loading
Three people, including a child, were injured Friday afternoon when police said a shooting broke out in a busy area along Connecticut Avenue in northwest Washington, blocking schools and sending terrified residents to safety.
Police are still searching for the shooter more than 2 1/2 hours after the first shots were reported around 3:20 pm in the Van Ness area, keeping the neighborhood and the city on the edge and prompting police to warn on Twitter that there is an “active threat” .
Authorities said a man and a woman were seriously injured and the child was slightly injured.
Heavy-armed tactical police and federal agents poured into the area, conducting a thorough search of buildings and streets as helicopter police scanned the area from above. Officers questioned the fleeing people and made some raise their hands in the air to make sure they were not involved.
A young man seen detained is not involved in the case, police said. One couple said they heard three quick shots of about 20 shots each and saw people hiding under a truck near a school while the shooter appeared to be shooting from a balcony in a residential building on Van Ness NW Street.
The District of Columbia police said the scene was in block 2900 on Van Ness Street, near Connecticut Avenue, and that police were conducting “active cleaning.” Police have called on residents of Cleveland Park and Van Ness to take refuge on the spot.
During an evening press conference where a helicopter swung overhead and police continued to escort people from the buildings, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said of the victims: “We pray for their health and well-being.”
DC Police Chief Stuart Emerman said at 5:30 p.m. that police were still trying to determine where the shots came from and where the victims were hit. He said some were scattered and found injured elsewhere.
Emerman also said investigators were aware of social media posts that allegedly contained details of the shooting, but warned that those posts had not been checked. He assured the parents of a school that the children were safely sheltered inside and that a police officer was with them.
The assistant chief added: “We have no motive at the moment.”
The shooting comes amid a series of recent mass shootings across the country that have angered residents.
Diane Roberts, a freelance reporter who has lived in Van Ness for 20 years, said she had never seen as many cops in her neighborhood as on Friday.
When he heard a series of pops echoing from her window, he didn’t think about it at first.
“I haven’t even considered firing a gun,” she said, adding that she then heard voices outside her window shouting “move” and “get off.”
She rushed to her window and saw police running down the street and helicopters circling above.
At about 5:10 p.m., a green armored car drove north on Connecticut Avenue and turned right onto Van Ness Street. A team of about half a dozen officers – dressed in green camouflage and carrying semi-automatic rifles – dismounted, consulted a police officer, and then moved cautiously up Van Ness, walking north of the armored cover car.
Minutes later, another black armor followed, carrying two men in camouflage riding in the back.
The shooting happened shortly after Edmund Burke School released the students for the day at 3:15 p.m. Students were leaving the building when they heard gunshots, and a couple fled to a nearby CVS shelter. Others were still in the building.
A spokesman for the University of Columbia campus near the shooting said the university and law school were sheltered and locked up. At least one public elementary and high school was also closed, along with the University of Columbia University and the western campus of Howard University’s School of Law.
The blockade of the shooting extended to Sidwell’s School for Friends around Tenlitown. Most of the students at the private school had returned for the day, but spokesman Bill Burger said there were after-school programs and two athletic events scheduled for Friday afternoon.
A spokeswoman for the public schools in DC said that at least two of the schools – Hearst Elementary and Wilson High – are on alert and students who also play sports in aftercare programs have been brought inside the shelter. Both schools are about a mile from the site of the shooting.
James Tandaric, a neighborhood adviser commissioner living in the area, said he was at work on Friday afternoon when his boyfriend, on a walk in the neighborhood, sent him a message that he had heard gunshots.
He received an email from the apartment shortly before 16:00, saying that they “knew about a possible emergency situation near the building”.
“Right now we are all in shock,” Tandaric said.
This is an evolving story.
Perry Stein, Clarence Williams and Ellie Silverman contributed to this report
Add Comment