WASHINGTON D.C., DC — Editor's note: This story has been updated.
DC residents and an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner in Southeast are calling on new leadership at the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety following the recent gun violence that has left several teenagers injured and a 15-year-old boy dead.
"It's not normal for juveniles to be shot at," said ANC 6B10 Commissioner Denise Krepp to WUSA9. "It's not normal for juveniles to be killed and that's what's happening to juveniles in Washington, D.C. right now."
Krepp held a public safety meeting Wednesday night following complaints from neighbors after a teenage boy was shot at the intersection of 15 Street and Massachusetts Avenue Southeast.
According to police, the juvenile was struck by gunfire Sunday, Oct. 9 at around 2:49 p.m. Neighbors say the teen was washing a car when someone in a white sedan pulled up and shot him.
Commissioner Krepp says that dozens of community members, including D.C. police, attended a public safety event. "We learned that MPD had taken 100 guns from the first district alone. One hundred guns, that's terrifying. The second thing we learned is that there are nine officers down in the first district," she told WUSA9.
Krepp says Councilmember Charles Allen, who also chairs the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety was a no-show. "The crimes are happening at his border, and he is nowhere to be found," said Krepp.
The shooting occurred along 15th Street, which is the border between Allen's Ward and Councilmember Vincent Gray's Ward 7.
"If you cannot be bothered to walk the crime scenes that I am walking, the rapes, the robberies, the stabbings, the murders, then why are you the head of the judiciary committee? It's time for you to get off," says Krepp.
Allen's team says the councilmember was never invited, but that his staff watched the online stream from their office. They also say he has requested that D.C. police consider a mounted camera in the location.
“He had multiple commitments that evening, including a different event with Ward 6 neighbors focused on young people overcoming challenges to contribute to the safety of our city," said Allen's office in a statement to WUSA9.
The D.C. Police Union Chief Shop Steward for the Criminal Investigations Division also criticized Allen in a tweet saying "Chair of the Committee on Judiciary & Public Safety doesn’t care that his soft on crime policies have wrecked DC. Residents of SE DC fed up with the violence held a meeting. Despite being invited, Allen didn’t attend or even send a proxy."
ANC Commissioner Tiffani Johnson pushed back in a tweet saying, "I don't believe Charles Allen is the entire problem." The commissioner representing Northwest said, "...Crime is not a singular issue. It's a calamity of multiple factors that no one person can eradicate alone. That's nonsensical."
Krepp and other Southeast neighbors that asked WUSA9 to not be identified are demanding that the judiciary committee convene to address what is leading to the gun violence in the District and why teenagers seem to be the recent targets.
15-year-old Andre Robertson Jr. was shot and killed Thursday afternoon as he was sitting on his great-grandmother's porch on the 500 block of 48th Place Northeast. D.C. police are still looking for three suspects that fled the scene in a gold sedan.
Allen's office said in a statement, "Improved public safety is achieved when leaders work together and in collaboration, which is how Councilmember Allen approaches the hard work neighbors deserve.”
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