A child was shot in Southeast D.C. Friday afternoon, the Metropolitan Police Department confirmed.
Multiple shots were fired during an attempted armed robbery in the 1300 block of Congress Street SE before 4:30 p.m. A 5-year-old boy walking to a grocery store with his mother was struck in abdomen.
He was conscious and breathing when he was taken to a hospital for surgery and is in stable condition.
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Police Chief Peter Newsham described it as a "street robbery." A group of teens tried to rob another group of teens, and one of the victims ran.
“The victims tried to flee from the robbers, then one of the robbers produced a gun and fired,” Newsham said. “Sounds pretty brazen. Didn’t seem to have much concern for life and certainly didn’t have much concern for people out here living in the community. A little boy got struck by gunfire.”
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The scene is near a schoolyard.
The shooting took place less than 24 hours after an 8-year-old girl was shot just more than a mile away in the 2700 block of Bruce Place SE Thursday evening. A bullet grazed her ear. She was conscious and breathing when first responders arrived.
“I think that both of the cases, the one from last night and the one from today, indicates we got to do something about these guys that feel like it’s OK to indiscriminately fire guns in our community,” Newsham said.
