WASHINGTON — A woman was shot and killed inside a hotel in Friendship Heights in D.C.'s first homicide of 2024.
Officers with the Metropolitan Police Department responded to the Embassy Suites hotel on Military Road Northwest near Wisconsin Avenue, along the D.C.-Maryland state line, around 1 a.m. after a report of a shooting in the area.
The police department confirmed that a woman died due to her injuries suffered in the shooting in the hotel. She was later identified as 18-year-old Ashlei Hinds, of Clinton, Maryland.
Hotel guests Steven Klinkner and his two children heard the gunshots upstairs from their eighth floor room.
"We heard some banging noise, like pop-pop," Klinker, visiting from California, told WUSA9. "I was hoping it was fireworks. It's not a great way to start the New Year."
"I heard two bangs," Ana Alvarado, visiting from Colombia, added. "I called the front desk and they said that everything was OK and that people was just having fun."
Police say they are searching for a man who has been described as being 5-foot-6. He is said to have been wearing black clothing with a black ski mask when he was last seen leaving the area.
Police say the suspect was captured on a surveillance camera.
DC Police currently offers a reward of up to $25,000 to anyone that provides information which leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for each homicide committed in the District of Columbia. Anyone with information about this case is asked to call the police at 202-727-9099. Additionally, anonymous information may be submitted to the department’s Text Tip Line by sending a text message to 50411.
Jason Parish, a longtime resident of the community, said his brother and family are checking out of the hotel after hearing the gunshots from their eighth floor room.
"It's unnerving and I feel embarrassed," Parish told WUSA9. "I feel sad because they'll think twice about coming to visit again. It's altogether infuriating."
It was already a violent 2023 in the city with more than 270 homicides, the most in two decades.
ANC3E Chair Jonathan Bender said while violent crimes have gone down in his district, concerns about gun crimes are growing with the number of property crimes on the rise. He wants to see more police officers to address the crime problem in the short-term while addressing the need for more resources, mental health support and economic development as a long-term solution.
"We have a lot more coming in and yet we have half the police that we normally do so again, things are worse in other parts of the city, it's getting bad here," Bender said.
DC Councilmember Matt Frumin posted a statement on X, saying that there was a gathering of friends at the hotel when the woman was shot.
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