Congress

Police Chief Asks Community to Report Illegal Guns After 6 Shootings in a Week in Congress Heights

After six people were shot along Wheeler Road in southeast D.C. in the span of a week, the chief of police said the biggest problem is the illegal guns on the streets.

Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White organized a town hall meeting at Eagle Academy Public Charter School in the Congress Heights neighborhood.

“I really don't like that fact that these shootings are happening right here on Wheeler Road,” said DaSean Jones Sr., whose daughter attends the third grade at Eagle Academy on Wheeler Road.

One of the shootings is now a homicide case. Andrew McPhatter died Sunday in a hospital. Someone gunned down the 28-year-old man in broad daylight Wednesday as he was driving on Wheeler about a block from his home.

He worked construction during the day and went to school at night and spent the weekends with his children, his mother said.

“We should not be losing our young men to gun violence in our city,” Newsham said. “There is a family who has lost a loved one.”

The chief released video showing a car police want to find. They believe the driver has information about a Feb. 23 shooting in the 3500 block of Wheeler Road. They believe two men seen on video walking to a store also have information about the shooting.

Video related to a shooting in the 4100 block of Wheeler Road shows a black SUV. Police want to find the driver.

The victims in those shootings refuse to cooperate with police.

Newsham said the community needs to help solve the shootings, and people need to call police when they see illegal guns.

“I would like the shootings to stop,” Jones said. “I would like the guns to be taken off of the streets.”

Police urge anyone with information about the shootings to call them.

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