PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, Md. — The Metropolitan Police Department is holding a news conference after three people were killed in the District this weekend adding to the more than 20 people shot in the DMV metro area since Friday night.
A 17-year-old girl and a man were shot on Deal Drive at a housing unit near the Eastover Shopping Center on Sunday in Prince George's County, according to the local police department.
Prince George's County Police said that both have non-life-threatening injuries and that they were taken to the hospital in the area for further treatment.
“It’s becoming so common that it’s just like it happens so much it doesn’t affect people -- like it should. People should be worried about stuff like that but people just go on with their lives because it happens so much and it seems nothing gets done about it, so it’s bad,” said a man in the community that the shooting happened, who did not want to be named.
Right now, the shooter is still out in the community. Police said they have no suspect information available at this time.
It was one of several violent crimes over the weekend.
D.C. police are investigating three homicides and 12 shootings, as well as a Use of Force Incident that happened on Sunday, Aug. 8, in the 1500 block of U Street Southeast.
Violence also broke out across the river in Virginia. Police are looking for a man they believe shot and killed a 23-year-old man after an argument broke out at a small gathering.
Three shootings this weekend occurred in Southeast D..C.'s Washington Highlands neighborhood. Brittany Cummings serves that community as its Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner and the chairperson of ANC 8E.
"It's like every altercation is escalating to gun violence," she said. "Because we have so many guns."
Cummings said the constant exposure to violence that people in her neighborhood experience can impact residents' mental health and even desensitize some people to deadly crime.
"There is PTSD for people who have been especially close to these unfortunate instances of violence," she said. "So, the mental health toll is huge."
Cummings adds that collaboration between the community and the police is key to fighting crime in her neighborhood. She says more of it is needed in the future.
"We would certainly like to see a more proactive approach that isn't just reacting to moments like this," Cummings said. We would like to see a respectful collaboration with the community."
Anyone with information about any of these cases is asked to contact investigators.