A 15-year-old boy was killed and three others, including a police officer, suffered gunshot wounds during a shooting at a music festival in Washington, DC Sunday evening.
Gunfire erupted on a street corner as crowds began to disperse from the “advocacy” festival called Moechella — which officers had shut down moments earlier over dangerous conditions.
The event was advertised as a peaceful demonstration at 14th and U Street celebrating Juneteenth, but police described a chaotic scene where several illegal guns were recovered over the course of two-and-a-half hours.
“When you have large gatherings in a dense area, all it takes is one person introducing a gun to the situation that makes it deadly,” Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert Contee said.
“In this case, unfortunately a 15-year-old lost his life.”
The teenager was killed, while the officer was shot in his lower extremity and is being treated at an area hospital. The two other adults injured were also rushed to the hospital and are in stable condition, according to the police chief.
Before shots rang out and struck the four victims, a fight broke out among attendees, multiple unrelated illegal firearms were recovered and several people were injured when an unknown disturbance cause people to scatter and create a stampede, Contee said.
Just another day in DC.