A shooting Thursday morning heightened tensions in a neighborhood in Northwest D.C. that’s seen three shootings since Jan. 5.
D.C. police Cmdr. Han Kim says officers in the area, including some added specifically to address the spike in violent crime in Columbia Heights, were so close they heard the shooting at 14th and Irving streets about 9:45 a.m.
“Our officers were actually in the area – our crime patrol units in the 3rd District and also the chief’s crime focus patrol units were just north of here and also just south of here,” Kim said. “Officers heard the sound of gunshots, ran to the scene, located an adult male suffering from a gunshot wound.”
Police say three men – at least two with guns – got out of a car and they fired on the victim, who is expected to survive his injuries.
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Bullets struck at least one nearby business.
Police said a silver Toyota Camry with a Maryland temporary tag T0646460 was seen driving away. It has a sticker or marking on the driver’s side lower portion of the rear windshield.
A few blocks away Monday night, 33-year-old Jerrame Watts was shot and killed while sitting in a car in the 1300 block of Columbia Road.
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Another man was injured in a shooting in the 1300 block of Irving Street NW on Wednesday night last week, police said.
Residents of the neighborhood have voiced their concern and frustration over the increase in violent crime.
“I definitely hear shootings a lot, and it’s not ideal,” one said.
On Nov. 29, a 19-year-old man was shot and wounded on board a Green Line Metro train as it pulled into the Columbia Heights station. A week later, at that same station, a gunman fired multiple shots from the platform at a train leaving the station.
An anti-crime walk through the neighborhood is being planned for next week.
