Four people were shot – including two who have died – in a drive-by shooting Thursday in Southwest D.C., about a block from Nationals Park, authorities say.
The victims were shot just before noon as they stood outside a store called the Friendly Food Market on Half Street SW, near the intersection with O Street, police said. Witnesses told News4 a Jeep Cherokee rolled up outside the store and gunfire was unleashed on a group out front.
A woman died at the scene. Three men were rushed to local hospitals, where one of them died.
The other two victims, both men, are in critical condition.
Police said that the white Jeep Grand Cherokee believed to have been involved was found abandoned in Prince George’s County.
The Jeep had been taken in an armed carjacking Wednesday near Blair Street and Kansas Street NW, D.C. police chief Pamela A. Smith said. The Jeep had a sunroof, tinted windows and a Maryland license plate.
Witnesses say the gunfire was rapid and loud, with as many as 20 to 30 shots were fired at the victims.
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Police have not yet released the names of the victims who were killed. But a woman named Shantice said she ran to the scene with her baby in a stroller after getting a call saying her cousin had been shot.
“I’m shaken; it's crazy," she said. "My nerves is very bad right now. I’m ready to pass out.”
Shantice was in tears, as were others as news of the shooting spread throughout the neighborhood.
A woman named Yodie told News4 she thought she knew one of the victims.
“That stuff hurts!" she said as she cried. "And I think they just need to just stop and put down the guns and stop shooting and love one another. They got to put it down because we gonna lose a lot of people on the street with this violence.”
The street in front of the market was littered with shell casings. The neighborhood has had its share of gun violence over the years, and police have installed multiple crime cameras.
“For as long as we have been here, we hear gunshots all the time," resident Stephanie Rogers said. "It's like random handgun shots.”
Rogers said after she heard Thursday's gunfire, she went outside and saw a man crying out in pain.
“He was limping to come around in front of the store and going, 'I’ve been shot,' and so I didn’t know what to think and just flipped around and came in the house and locked the door,” she said.
Chief Smith said police often have an increased presence in the area, but there hasn’t been any violent crime in the last 30 days.
