A teen girl is recovering from a gunshot wound after someone opened fire on a group of young people outside a party in Annandale, Virginia, on Saturday. Fairfax County police are still looking for the shooter.
The 15-year-old was shot on Beverly Manor Drive in an incident neighbors described as another sign of the widespread prevalence of gun violence.
Memorial Day flags lined the peaceful block of well-manicured yards and blooming flowers on Monday. Many residents have lived there for decades. But gunfire broke the quiet on Saturday night.
“I heard what sounded like a gunshot, and it was very loud, but I said, 'Nothing ever happens on our street,’” one woman who lives in the area told News4.
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Investigators were back at a house down the street on Monday after a single shot hit a teen just before midnight.
A resident of the home where the shooting occurred said he had guests over when a group of young people showed up uninvited. He asked them to leave and they did, but then they began driving up and down the street. He declined being interviewed on camera.
Footage from a neighbor’s doorbell camera showed a sedan on its final pass up the street. Its occupants yelled from the windows as music blasted. Then a single gunshot could be heard, followed by a large emergency response.
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“It just seems so crazy,” the woman who heard the gunshot said. “All these shootings have been happening lately, and it just seems — why would someone shoot someone just because they weren’t allowed into a party? It just seems so ridiculous.”
Other neighbors echoed that thought.
“We don’t have that happen here, you know. This is a peaceful street. It’s just a little unnerving,” resident David Holland said.
Residents said what happened on their street reflects what’s being seen across the D.C. area and the U.S.: an uptick in gun violence, even in some of the most unlikely places.
“You look at the number of attacks that we had, even just this weekend ... and it's concerning. It’s getting kind of where it doesn't - nobody is immune to it anymore,” one man said.
The teen who was shot and wounded was reportedly released from a hospital.
The shooter was in a light-colored sedan, police said. The homeowner where the shooting occurred said at least five people were in the car.
