This past weekend, the District of Columbia experienced devastating gun violence, with multiple people killed or wounded by guns in several shootings across the city. This surge in gun violence is indicative of an increasing trend of city gun violence across the country.
On Friday, October 1, a woman was shot and killed and five other people were wounded in a shooting in Southwest D.C., in the Bellevue neighborhood. On Saturday, October 2, a person was shot and wounded on the D.C.-Maryland border near Georgia Avenue. Two more shootings took place in the District on Saturday night, including a shooting near Nationals Park baseball stadium where a firefighter was shot and killed and two others were wounded, and a shooting in Northeast D.C. where a man was shot when an individual with a gun exited a car and opened fire. In the early hours of Sunday, October 3, another man was shot and wounded in Northwest D.C., in the Petworth neighborhood. On Sunday evening, two more people were shot and wounded in Southeast D.C. and taken to area hospitals.
As gun violence continues to take lives and pose an increased threat to communities across the District of Columbia, it is crucial that the city begin implementing new community-based violence intervention programs and strategies that have been proven to reduce gun violence in cities. Washington, D.C. has invested at historic levels in the life-saving work of community-based violence intervention programs as part of the city’s 2021-2022 fiscal year budget that goes into effect this month. The new funding includes supportive provisions for employment programs, street outreach, alternative dispatch, the expansion of the DC Pathways program, and expansions for trauma-informed mental health services, among others.
If you would like to speak with a D.C. Moms Demand Action or Students Demand Action volunteer, please do not hesitate to reach out.