WASHINGTON — A woman in D.C. is dead after she was shot Tuesday afternoon in front of her kids inside a home in Southeast.
DC police responded to the 2900 block of Knox Place, SE at 1:24 p.m. and initially found a woman unconscious, breathing and suffering from gunshot wounds inside the Marquis building. Police later said the woman died from her injuries.
On Wednesday, July 20, police identified the woman as 33-year-old Audora Williams of Southeast, D.C.
Heartbroken and flustered, Lamont Perry said the deceased was his daughter and he was at work when DC Police told him his she'd been shot and killed while her five children were home.
“I got here and the detectives told me that my daughter lost her life,” Perry said. This is the first time I ever lost a child. It’s hard — she’s my only daughter.”
Perry said the shooter and his daughter were in an on-again, off-again relationship, but she had been trying to end things for good.
Khare Hawkins, director of operations for the building, said the victim was a good mother.
“She was just caught up in a domestic situation,” Hawkins said. “She did her best to alert the authorities of what was going on. Unfortunately, I don't think she may have had the strength to walk away.”
Hawkins said the number one issue in all the buildings they own is domestic violence.
“She requested that we change the locks, we did that,” Hawkins said. “She requested to be moved, we put in for transfer for her to be moved to another unit.”
Perry said he’s focused on being strong for his five grandchildren who are now motherless.
“I don’t know how I’m going to get through this,” he said. “Just pray, pray, pray, that’s all I can do.”
As of Tuesday morning, D.C. had recorded 115 homicides -- a 13% increase from last year.