WASHINGTON (AP) — A dispute that erupted into gun fire at an apparent outdoor party in Washington, D.C., early Sunday left one person dead and some 20 others injured, including an off-duty officer “struggling for her life,” according to police.
A 17-year-old male, identified as Christopher Brown, died in the shooting that occurred after midnight in a southeast side neighborhood where people had gathered for music and food.
"I really don't understand how my child's life is gone. 17, my oldest, I have five boys. Just an innocent king's life is taken for whatever the reason," the teen's mother said Sunday.
“There was some kind of a dispute,” Peter Newsham, the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, told reporters. “Multiple weapons were produced.” He said a motive for the shooting wasn’t clear.
The off-duty officer was taken by fellow officers to a local hospital, Newsham said.
“She’s struggling for her life right now,” he said. He added that “the rest of the gunshot wounds, as far as we know, are non-life-threatening.”
No arrests were immediately announced.
There may have been hundreds of attendees at the gathering despite city restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic on such large gatherings, Newsham said.
Nelson Bostic, a resident in the area, told WTOP the gathering appeared to be a birthday party. After the burst of gunfire, he said he saw “people laying on the ground” and “ducking under cars.”
“It was terrible,” he said.
Follow Me
}
Comments