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At least 128 children have been victimized by gun violence this year in the DMV

WUSA9 reviewed police department data and its own stories to find that number. That’s almost equal to two school buses of kids or five classrooms full of students.

WASHINGTON — Editor's Note: The video above, 'What's being done to address kids and crime in DC' first aired November 10, 2022.

Yet another week has passed where gunfire has altered the lives of youth in the D.C. region.

On Thursday, someone shot a teenager on a Metrobus in Southeast D.C. A nearby school had to be placed on lockdown.

On Wednesday, police found a mother and her 4-year-old daughter shot dead in a Hagerstown hotel.

And, just five days before that, DC Police claimed a teenager shot another teenager multiple times in Northwest.

These are just a few of the children whose lives have been impacted by gunfire in D.C., Maryland, or Northern Virginia over the last year.

WUSA9 reviewed all the stories it’s covered since 2022 where a juvenile, aged 17 or younger, has either died or has been injured by gun violence. It also recently obtained data from the Metropolitan Police Department showing how many juvenile gunshot wound victims there have been so far this year in D.C.

Credit: Metropolitan Police Department
According to Metropolitan Police Department Data, more than 90 juveniles have been the victims of gun violence this year in DC.


Overall, WUSA9 determined at least 128 children in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia have been victimized by gunfire in 2022. That’s almost two school buses of children, five classrooms full of students, or more than eight teams of little league baseball players.

In D.C., authorities say at least 14 kids of those kids were killed.

WUSA9 has also reported on close to three dozen incidents in Maryland and Virginia where at least 37 children have been injured or killed from gunfire.

"We're all traumatized at this point,” DC Gun Violence Prevention Director Linda Harllee Harper said. “I think that's a very real reality.”

It’s important to note, children who have died or have been injured from guns are more than just statistics.

This map, below, includes every story WUSA9 has done on a shooting that has impacted a juvenile this year. Many of those stories include details about their lives before the gunshot that changed everything.

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