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18-year-old killed in Southeast was set to graduate next week

More than 30 shots can be heard on surveillance video as police continue to search for suspects

WASHINGTON — We're learning more about a young man who was shot and killed in Southeast D.C. on Tuesday night. Police say he is 18-year-old Dionte Alexander. D.C. homicide detectives are still searching for who killed him.

Those who knew him told WUSA9 that Alexander was a student with DC Public Schools and was expected to graduate next week.

The gunfire was captured on surveillance video. You can hear more than 30 shots fired on doorbell camera footage from a neighbor who lives in the 1900 block of 18th Street SE, where the shooting happened. 

"All of a sudden I heard what sounded like a war zone and I immediately panicked," said the neighbor whose camera recorded the video. 

Just 10 minutes later, police responded and found Alexander shot to death. 

The man told WUS9 this isn't the first time he has heard gunshots in his neighborhood. Some of the shootings happened right near Moten Elementary School.

"We have been in this neighborhood for two years now, and initially it was so jarring, and now it's almost desensitizing because it's happening so frequently," he said. 

The neighbor said he doesn't even feel safe inside his home. In July of last year, the neighbor says bullets flew through a glass door and into a wall.

"I had just brushed my teeth, gotten into bed, not 30 seconds later, it was like pow pow pow pow pow pow! It entered the wall right above our headboard," he said. "Shattered windows, shattered glass doors. It was terrifying."

The man said he's concerned that not enough is being done to curb the violence in his neighborhood.

"Where is the response, where is the prevention, like who's intervening to keep this from happening?"

So far this year, homicides are down in the District. According to Metropolitan Police Department crime data, there have been 80 people killed in D.C. in 2024. That's compared to 104 homicides in the District at this time last year. 

RELATED: Man shot to death in Southeast DC

RELATED: 'It’s terrible how things have become' | Neighbors concerned about crime in District Heights after 2 deadly shootings

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