A shooting on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., claimed the lives of two men Sunday night as the city’s murder rate surges past last year’s numbers.
One man was still alive when the pair was found around 8:20 p.m. inside an SUV in the 500 block of 11th Street SE, a mixed use area about a mile southeast of the Capitol, the Washington Post reported.
That man later died at a hospital, following the other man’s death at the scene, 1st Police District commander Tasha Bryant said. The victim who died in the car has been identified as 34-year-old Othaniel Gaither, a resident of southeast D.C., the Post reported.
No arrests had been made by Monday afternoon, the Post reported.
The incident reportedly saw the SUV shot at for nearly half a mile before it crashed into parked cars. It came after the driver of the SUV picked up two men in another neighborhood, where another vehicle began following them, according to D.C. police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck.
Photos appearing to show the crashed vehicle were shared on Twitter by local reporter Christian Flores.
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The incident came as D.C. homicides were already surpassing the numbers from the same time last year. As of Wednesday, there have been 45 homicides, a 15 percent increase from 39 at the same time in 2022, according to the Metropolitan Police Department’s data.
A third passenger in the SUV was injured in the crash and is cooperating with investigators, according to D.C. police homicide Capt. Kevin Kentish.
Kentish said it is unclear how many people fired at the vehicle, but there was no evidence that anyone fired back. One firearm has been recovered from the scene, he said.
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Neighbors said there were three bursts of multiple rounds of gunfire, according to WUSA. Asked by a reporter to confirm neighbor reports that “dozens” of shots had been fired in the incident, Bryant confirmed that there were “multiple” shots.
“Our officers actually heard the sound of gunshots and responded to this area in response to that,” she said.
