A 15-year-old girl was killed late Sunday in Southeast D.C. when shots were fired from a vehicle, police say.
Niomi Russell, of Northwest D.C., was in the 2400 block of Elvans Road SE when someone started shooting at people outside an apartment building, D.C. police said.
Russell was hit and went inside the building, police said. She had been shot in the neck, according to a police watch commander.
“I knew it was something tragic because I heard the mother crying and screaming up here,” Kimberly Little, an ANC commissioner in Ward 8, said while holding her young child. “That little girl did not deserve that. I know that she didn’t.”
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Officers heard gunshots and rushed to the scene, which is near Stanton Road and Suitland Parkway in the Barry Farm area, D.C. police said.
Russell was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Police were looking for a silver SUV with a black top that was seen on Stanton Road SE headed toward Sheridan.
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Authorities didn’t immediately comment on a motive for the shooting nor whether Russell was an intended target.
After the shooting, chalk drawings could be seen on the sidewalk where police officers marked evidence such as shell casings.
The D.C. police crime map shows since April 15, 2022, there have been 10 homicides, 48 assaults with a dangerous weapon and 37 robberies in the area. On April 8, police responded to the shooting of a woman in the exact same block of Elvans Road.
“You can’t really talk to people or have any friends,” Little said of the neighborhood. “I don’t have any family, I don’t have any friends, because they’re scared to come here.”
Little said the apartment complexes are not spending enough money for security, and she fears retaliation will come as it often does.
“If you know that someone just died, you know there’s going to be a retaliation. This little girl is dead,” Little said.
The “constant” sound of gunshots also devastates the mental health of people living in the community, including young children, Little said.
“It could be my 2-year-old next,” she said through tears.
Of the four juveniles killed in the District so far this year, police have made arrests in two of the cases.
Stay with News4 for more on this developing story.
