WASHINGTON — Two men were killed and a 2-year-old girl was one of two others injured in a Southeast, D.C. shooting on Thursday.
According to police, three people got out of a car in the intersection of 22nd Street and Savannah Place, Southeast with what appeared to be rifles and started shooting.
Officers who were patrolling the area around 11:30 a.m. heard the gunfire and responded to the scene, DC Police Chief Pamela A. Smith said.
When they arrived, they found four people had been shot – three men and a little girl.
The girl was taken to an area hospital where she's being treated for injuries. She is expected to survive.
Two of the men shot were killed. They were later identified as Lamont Street, 29, and Jermaine Proctor, 50.
A third man was taken to an area hospital with wounds. He is also expected to survive.
According to Smith, a white sedan pulled up to 22nd and Savannah Place, SE, when three men with rifles jumped out of the car and started shooting up the street toward the three men who were in the intersection of 22nd and Alabama Avenue. Police said the suspects ditched the white car and hopped into a blue Dodge Charger with heavy tinted windows and took off.
Two-year-old Emily and her daycare class from Creative Corners Early Learning Center were walking to the playground when they were caught in the crossfire. Emily was the only child who was hit. Her grandmother told WUSA9 she was undergoing emergency surgery after being shot in the shoulder.
Seeing day care staff walking with young children in the morning is routine, Smith said. The shooting was anything but routine.
"This is another example of gun violence that we cannot have in our communities," Smith said. "I'm telling you I'm sick and tired of this we are doing everything we can we push this information out we send this information out on BOLO, we know that individuals know who these folks are. We're going to ask you again. If you know something, say something. This is senseless and we have to stop this type of violence."
Joseph Johnson, the chair of the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission 8B, said the Chief is failing to keep neighbors safe. He said the shopping center has long been a trouble spot in the community. Neighbors say the day care been located in the plaza for nearly 20 years.
"Just a couple months ago there were (police) cars that would sit in that shopping center and they would switch shifts early on you would have a car and at seven, another cruiser would come the problem is it stopped," he explained, "If a 3-year old child was shot two months ago and lost her life and now you’re saying a 2-year-old child was struck, does that sound like improvement to you? I am calling on the chief to resign her position."
Three-year-old Ty'ah Settles was killed in early May just a few blocks away on Hartford Street, SE.
"The shootings have to stop, please, please," begged a grandmother walking her two granddaughters by the plaza later. "We are killing our future."
Anyone who may have information about this case that would help investigators is asked to contact MPD at 202-727-9099 or text the department's tip line at 50411.