WASHINGTON — Some northeast D.C. parents say they're not letting their kids out of the house after a 7-year-old girl was shot while playing outside Saturday night.
D.C. Police said Sunday afternoon that the girl is in stable condition in the hospital. But now they're searching for a white car (pictured below) in connection with the shooting and are asking anyone who has knowledge of the car or the shooting to contact them.
Tia B. is still shaken. She said her kids were playing with the young girl when she was shot.
“My kids and I were outside, and they were in the courtyard," Tia B. said. "They were starting to shoot from the end of the street down toward the children. So we grabbed the children and pulled them in the house.”
D.C. Police said the girl was riding a scooter next to her family near a courtyard on the 3500 block of Jay Street NE when she was shot in the chest.
It's a block that's been dangerous for children in the last month. On April 10, D.C. Police said a 15-year-old stabbed 16-year-old Marquette Galloway to death.
“Right now our whole courtyard is on lockdown," Tia B. said. "None of the parents are willing to let our children outside right now, because of what's going on … I have a five-year-old right here. So that's really scary.”
So far in 2021, D.C. Police said four kids have become homicide victims.
“It’s sad to say that you can’t enjoy all the things that they are building up out here," Michelle Martin, who's lived in the apartment complex for seven years said. "Like the playground, they took it down to redo them and everything.”
Tia B. said the renovations aren't enough to keep her here anymore.
“I'm ready to move," she said. "I can't raise my kids here. It's not a good thing. It's not a good feeling to have to keep your kids secluded so much already.”
For now, though, she said that's what she'll have to do to try to keep them safe.
If anyone recognizes the vehicle pictured above or knows anything about the shooting, police ask them to call them at (202) 727-9099 or text the tip line at 50411.