WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — Police have identified the three men killed in a Southeast D.C. triple homicide Saturday night.
The victims are: 26 year-old Sean Shuler of Capitol Heights, 26 year-old Javon Abney of Southeast, D.C., and 24 year-old Tyrik Hagood of Northeast, D.C., Chief Peter Newsham said Sunday.
The Chief and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser held a news conference at the scene Sunday, hoping to ease neighbors’ nerves with their presence.
Chief Newsham said the shooting took place a little after 10 p.m. at the 1500 block of Fort Davis Pl. When officers arrived, they found two men inside a vehicle and another man lying in the street. Each suffered multiple gunshot wounds.
The Chief also said officers found a handgun, ammunition and drugs inside of the car involved. Neither of the three men killed appear to have any ties to the Fort Davis neighborhood.
Richard Evans lives just next door to the scene.
He tells WUSA 9 he has a six-year-old at home.
“She doesn’t understand what gunshots are, it’s that quiet here,” said Evans, who also said the child knows her father is upset.
“That’s scary,” said Evans, “If you have a triple homicide happening across the street - and someone getting out of the car running for their life up a hill and bleeding to death – I mean, that’s normal. That shouldn’t be normal.”
“It was very unusual to see what we saw out here last night,” said Chief Newsham. He described the Fort Davis area as a very, very quiet neighborhood with many elderly residents.
Maro Craig tells WUSA 9 she’s been in the area for about seven years.
“I know this could’ve been avoided. Because as I said before, I have asked for more patrolling of police in this area. Please,” Craig said forcefully.
This wasn’t the only homicide scene this weekend.
Earlier Saturday, Police say a 59-year-old man was shot and killed on the 4100 block of Hayes St. NE.
Before Saturday, Police recorded 14 homicides in 2019. That’s twice the number of murders the city saw this same time last year.
Chief Newsham said Sunday, “… the number of shootings that we’ve had in our city has remained consistent over the past three years. It’s just the lethality of shootings has actually increased.”
Evans told WUSA 9, “Explain that to your family and having your family go through that scared and so forth,” said Evans, “I mean that’s … something that we need to change. We can’t have this. This is bad. I mean, this is about as bad as it gets.”
In addition to changes already in place, Chief Newsham said they’ll be announcing some new crime-fighting measures soon. When asked, he told WUSA 9 those changes will not include curfews.
Police are now searching for two suspects believed to be connected to the triple homicide. We’re told a suspect was described as black man, driving a dark-colored sedan at the time of the incident. One suspect was seen wearing white baseball cap with a black jacket and white pants. The other was said to be wearing a red hoodie.
Anyone with information on the shootings should call police at 202-727-9099 or text a tip to 50411.
Police are offering a $25,000 reward to anyone who can provide information leading to an arrest.