Shooting in Washington DC leaves man dead and 5 injured after gunmen open fire into crowd

Police release pictures of suspected vehicle

Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith briefs media (Screengrab/ DC Police Department)

A man was killed and five others, including two children, sustained injuries in a shooting on Wednesday evening in Washington DC.

The suspects got out of a vehicle and began shooting into a crowd of people on the street in the Carver Langston neighbourhood just before 6pm (local time), Metropolitan police chief Pamela Smith said.

Officers responded to multiple 911 calls about a shooting at around 6.10pm (local time) and upon arrival, located victims of gunshots, she said.

The four wounded – two men, a woman and a nine-year-old – were rushed to the local hospital in an ambulance, while a boy, 12, later arrived at a hospital with a gunshot wound.

The victims are believed to have suffered non-life-threatening injuries, Ms Smith said.

Law enforcement officials have released images of the suspected vehicle – a gray or light-blue four-door sedan with paper license tags and heavily tinted windows.

“This is another example, and I’ve been here before in this space, of violence that we cannot, we just cannot, accept in our communities," she told reporters.

"My condolences go out to the families and friends who were impacted by this senseless gun violence tonight."

The District of Columbia is struggling with a sharp increase in violent crime, which went up 39 per cent in 2023.

The increase was largely fueled by a 35 per cent rise in homicides and growth in carjackings, which nearly doubled.

Last month, two people were fatally shot and five others were injured after a shooting broke out in Washington DC.

The shooting occurred around 3am at 7th and P Street NW – a stone’s throw from the Kennedy Recreation Center and a 10-minute drive from the White House.

In February, three police officers in Washington DC were shot as they attempted to serve an arrest warrant for cruelty to animals, authorities said, while residents in the area were relocated from their homes after the suspect barricaded himself in.

The suspect, who was identified as Julius James, 46, was arrested and charged with cruelty to animals.