WASHINGTON — While a 12-year-old boy from Northwest, D.C. is recovering from being shot in the face, nearly 100 of his neighbors gathered across the street from the crime scene demanding more resources to fight crime.
“Am I supposed to sit in my living room and live daily hoping that a stray bullet doesn’t come through my house!” shouted one woman.
She told WUSA9 that after 15 years of living in Ledroit Park she is moving out. Thursday night’s shooting of a 12-year-old left dozens of bullet casings on the ground right outside her home at 2nd and W Streets, NW.
“What do you tell me when I’m throwing my 10-year-old on the ground and throwing my body over her, so she doesn’t get shot?” she asked Councilmembers Kenyan McDuffie and Brianne Nadeau.
Another neighbor, who declined to give WUSA9 her name, said her 13-year-old son was walking home from the store just before 9 p.m. Thursday evening with the 12-year-old who was shot. Her son told police someone started chasing the two boys and began shooting. The boys ran separate ways, she said.
“My son ran to another building and [some other] boys saved him, pulling him in the building, so he wasn’t harmed," she said. "We don’t’ know who did it or nothing like that. “Something needs to be done. We can’t continue to live around here and be fearful for our lives.”
Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie said homicides are up 21% this year over last year.
“It truly is an epidemic," McDuffie told the neighbors.
The residents asked why there were no violence interrupters assigned to the area. Councilmember Brianne Nadeau, who was strolling her baby, blamed a lack of funding.
“Councilmember McDuffie and I have been fighting for resources in communities experiencing violence,” Nadeau said.
In the meantime, parents hold on to their children praying for their safety inside their homes and in their own community.