From the Washington Post:
A man was fatally shot on the grounds of a Catholic church in Southeast Washington on Tuesday afternoon, and hours later, gunfire in an apartment five miles away in Congress Heights killed a woman and wounded a child and a teenager, D.C. police said.
Those shootings and a third that also turned fatal came amid a surge of violence across the city that began in late spring and has touched every quadrant. The District has recorded 97 homicides this year, up about 30 percent from this time last year and nearing 2014’s total of 105.
Mayor Muriel E. Bowser arrived at the scene of the triple shooting on Savannah Street SE and with Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier expressed anger over what they called a proliferation of weapons saturating the city’s streets, some falling into the hands of children and teens.
“When people say what is driving this,” said Lanier, referring to the killings, “it is illegal firearms in the homes and hands of the wrong people, and when children have access to firearms, bad things happen.” On Monday, Lanier said that officers had seized 102 illegal guns in the past 30 days, which she termed a “staggering number.”
In addition, Mayor Muriel Bowser and the Police Chief have added to their supposed reasons for the violence: “a rise in the use of synthetic drugs, an increase in guns, repeat violent offenders out of prison and on the streets, and petty disputes being settled with gunfire” as well as a shortage of officers and a growing “retirement bubble”.
Frustration is increasing throughout the city. In Northwest and Northeast, residents are calling for more meetings and more police.
Read more over at the Washington Post.
