The man killed when two shooters opened fire on a crowd in Northeast D.C. on Wednesday evening was with his young sons at the time, his mother told News4.
Aubrey McLeod, 29, was taking his sons to football practice when gunfire erupted on 21st Street NE, Marlea Tolson said. Five other people were injured, including two children unrelated to McLeod.
“I’m forever changed. I will never be the same,” Tolson said.
The other five shooting victims survived, including a 9-year-old boy and a 12-year-old boy.
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The 9-year-old was shot in the foot and is too afraid to sleep, his mother said.
“Everyone’s always crying and it’s just a lot. My heart is really hurting for my child,” she said.
The family is staying in a hotel while they seek housing elsewhere.
D.C. police data shows that in the past year, eight people have been killed within a half-mile radius of where the shooting Wednesday occurred, in the Carver-Langston neighborhood.
“We cannot go back to that apartment. My son is terrified. My two other kids, they are scared,” the mother said.
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Police are still searching for the shooters. McLeod’s mother said she’s praying for them.
“I ask God to be with them and be with their souls,” she said. “What they have taken, what they have removed from my body, I don’t want their parents or their loved ones to experience it.”
McLeod worked on a food truck with his father and was excited to be starting a new career flipping houses.