WASHINGTON — A triple shooting in broad daylight late Friday morning left three men badly injured, with one in critical condition.
At approximately 10:45 a.m., DC Police said they were called to the 2700 block of Martin Luther King Avenue, SE for a reported shooting. Once on scene, they found three men suffering from gunshot wounds.
All three men were transported to the hospital, and police said one man was in critical condition. The other two victims were treated for serious injuries but were expected to survive.
MPD Chief Robert Contee said the three men were in their 30s.
Police reported late Friday that 21-year-old Joseph Peterson was arrested for the shooting. Detectives' preliminary investigation determined that a suspect fired shots from the vehicle and then the vehicle fled the scene. Further investigation also determined that one of the shooting victims also discharged a firearm in the direction of the vehicle.
The vehicle, described as a black, four-door, later model Audi A8, with a handicap placard hanging from the rearview mirror, and a rear tag covered by a smoke-colored cover was captured by a nearby surveillance camera.
Metropolitan Police Department said they arrested 21-year-old Joseph Peterson of Southeast D.C. for several gun charges.
Anyone who can identify this vehicle or who has knowledge of this incident should take no action but call police at (202) 727-9099 or text your tip to the Department's TEXT TIP LINE at 50411. The Metropolitan Police Department currently offers a reward of up to $10,000 to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for a crime committed in the District of Columbia.
This triple shooting comes after a shooting Wednesday less than a mile away in the Congress Heights neighborhood where five people were shot. A 25-year-old man, George Evans III, and a 28-year-old woman, Keosha Ferguson, died on the scene from their injuries. Two others were transported to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Another person who was shot walked to a nearby hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.
"As a commissioner, honestly this is brutally toxic. Traumatized. Heartbroken," Congress Heights ANC Commissioner Shekita McBroom said in an interview with WUSA9.
On Thursday, a man was killed and a juvenile female was injured in a shooting in the 2600 block of Martin Luther King Avenue, SE just before 5 p.m.
A WUSA9 analysis of MPD crime data found the Congress Heights neighborhood has seen more than its share of violent crime over the past two years. During that period, the area within a quarter-mile radius of the shooting has seen 20 assaults with a dangerous weapon, 13 armed robberies and seven homicides before Wednesday.