A woman in her 30s and a man in his 20s were the two people killed when someone opened fire outside a shop in Southwest D.C. on Thursday, police say.
Patricia Harris, 35, and Tyrone Jacobs, 24, were among the people standing outside the Friendly Food Market on Half Street SW, about a block from Nationals Park, when a Jeep Cherokee rolled up just before noon. Then someone inside the Jeep sprayed gunfire into the group.
Harris died at the scene, and Jacobs was rushed to a hospital, where he died later that day. Both were residents of Southwest D.C., police said.
Two other men were hurt. One was treated and released, and the other remained hospitalized, police said Friday.
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Police have made no arrests, but they believe they've found the SUV used in the shooting.
Authorities initially issued a lookout for a white Jeep Grand Cherokee before they found a vehicle in Maryland matching the description. It had been abandoned and set on fire at the intersection of Arnold Road and Whitehall Street in Suitland.
"Due to the condition of the vehicle, confirmation is ongoing," police said Friday.
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The Jeep had been stolen in an armed carjacking near Blair and Kansas streets NW just a day before the shooting, Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela A. Smith said.
'It hurt my heart to see another person die like that'
Many people walked by the crime scene outside the market Friday, wanting to see where it happened. Most said they didn’t know the victims. Others knew just a first name. Still, they were saddened by the violence.
One woman went to leave a stuffed animal and a bouquet of flowers. She said she didn't know Harris.
"But it hurt my heart to see another person die like that, and it shouldn’t be that way," she said.
"It's not cool for another person to lose their life," she said. "What's the reason you're shooting these people?"
As the day continued, others left mementos, and police kept an eye on the block.
The car owned by the man who runs the market remained parked outside; a bullet had punctured a back passenger-side window and exited from the front passenger window.
A law enforcement source says the shooter used an assault weapon. The velocity of the bullets was apparent, with holes pierced through brightly painted cinderblock walls.
As many as 20-30 shots fired at victims, witnesses say
Witnesses to Thursday's drive-by shooting say the gunfire was rapid and loud, with as many as 20 to 30 shots fired at the victims.
Shortly after the shooting, a woman named Shantice said she ran to the scene with her baby in a stroller after getting a call saying her cousin may have 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.
"It's terrible; you can’t walk to school with your kids," she said. "You can’t walk outside with your kids. You can’t even walk to the store. It's bad. It's very bad. It don’t look good for the city."
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 had installed multiple crime cameras.
“For as long as we have been here, we hear gunshots all the time," neighbor 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.
Smith said police often have an increased presence in the area but there hadn't been any violent crime in the last 30 days.
Police are asking anyone with information about the shooting call them 202-727-9099. Anyone wishing to remain anonymous may text a tip tp 50411.
