Weekend shooting in Washington highlights rise in gun violence in D.C.

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Two high-profile shootings this weekend in Washington — one that killed a 6-year-old girl and the other that prompted the evacuation of Washington Nationals Stadium — have put the spotlight on the rising shootings in the nation’s capital and some US cities.

In the District of Columbia, the number of assaults involving a gun has increased year on year since 2018 and is higher this year so far than it was at the same point in 2020, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of data from the Washington Metropolitan Police. The general gate of the department.

Police data showed that this weekend in the District of Columbia, 455 attacks using weapons were reported, compared to 422 as of mid-July 2020. The assault category includes any use of a gun in the incident and is not limited to shootings. Specific data on the shootings was not readily available on Sunday.

Higher rates of gun crime mirror trends in other cities such as New York, Philadelphia and Chicago, where shootings are up from this point last year and homicides are at or near the high levels seen last July.

“This is a beautiful national phenomenon,” said David Abrams, an economist and law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, who studies crime. He said the jump in shootings and killings in many large cities began in the mid-2020s during the COVID-19 pandemic, but researchers are still looking at the data to isolate specific causes.

Fans rushed out of the seats after hearing gunfire outside the stadium as the San Diego Padres and Washington Nationals played Saturday night. Photo: John McDonnell/Washington Post/Associated Press

The rise in homicides across American cities has focused on poor neighborhoods with a persistent history of violence. Those neighborhoods, which also have larger black and Latino residents, faced a new wave of gun violence and gang activity when the Covid-19 lockdown was implemented last year, closing schools and courts and increasing pressure on the police.

On Friday evening, 6-year-old Nia Courtney was killed in a shooting that wounded five others — two women and three men — in the southeastern part of Washington, D.C. The Metropolitan Police distributed a photo of a vehicle they believe was involved in the shooting. No arrests have been made as of Sunday.

At a news conference on Saturday, Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Conte said the shooting was an act of cowardice and called on the community to help police make an arrest.

“I understand that Nia was starting first grade this fall. This is not going to happen, and frankly, this is unacceptable to me and a must for every inhabitant of this city.

The city’s mayor, Muriel Bowser, said the shooting was an example of excessive gun violence in the city. “One more person could be killed tonight. Another person might be killed the next night because so many people are willing to use weapons.

In addition to the slight increase in gun attacks, the District of Columbia last year saw 198 murders, its highest number since 2004. Halfway through the year, the city is on track to match that number, according to police data.

In Washington, the police department reported 101 murders as of Friday, the same number at this point in 2020. However, overall violent crime in the city is down compared to the same period last year, according to police department figures, largely because To decrease sexual assaults and accidents that do not involve weapons.

The day after Nia was shot and about 3 miles north of where she was killed, the Washington Nationals baseball team evacuated their field late in their game Saturday night after a shooting outside the field.

Three people were injured in the incident, which does not appear to be related to the game, Ashan Benedict, assistant chief of police at the Metropolitan Police, said at a news conference. One of them, he said, was a woman attending the match but she was outside the stadium at the time.

Benedict said it looked like a shootout between people in two cars who fled the scene. Police recovered one of the cars and said on Sunday they were still searching for the second car, a gray sedan.

The shooting occurred during the sixth inning of the game against the San Diego Padres, which was suspended shortly after.

The echoes of gunshots sent fans in the stadium fleeing from their seats. Some fans plunged under their chairs, while others ran towards the exits or jumped onto the field, running along the first and third base line. Players and officials left the field, and more expensive seats behind the home plate were among the first to walk out.

Other fans took shelter on the floor between the benches, and more gathered in the two teams’ bunkers. Part of the panic inside the stadium was prompted by fans’ fear – it turns out incorrectly – of an active shooter inside the stadium, according to Wall Street Journal reporters on the field at the time.

The stadium, with a capacity of 41,000, was nearly full, as citizens recently eased restrictions imposed by the outbreak.

In total, between Friday morning and Sunday afternoon, 18 gun-related violent crimes were reported in Washington.

Sarah Shani Cambon, Amara Omokoi, and Aaron Zeitner contributed to this article.

Write to Chad Day at [email protected]

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