D.C. police said they arrested a teenage boy this week after two men were injured in a shooting at a violence prevention meeting hosted in a Northeast church.
Metropolitan Police said the 16-year-old boy was charged with carrying illegal weapons inside the house of worship in the Kingman Park neighborhood, but authorities also said the boy’s involvement in the shooting is still under investigation. Authorities believe the shooting suspect fled.
Police said the shots rang out just after 4 p.m. Monday in the 700 block of 18th Street Northeast the anti-violence organization TRIGGER Project was holding its youth orientation at the Peace Baptist Church.
A group of people was gathered in a fenced-in area at the back of the church’s property, police said, when one person in the group pulled out a gun and opened fire.
The assailant wounded two men, whose ages were not shared by police. Both victims are expected to survive.
The 16-year-old who was arrested on gun charges was one of the people who stayed behind to speak with detectives. Investigators said they found the guns after asking the boy if they could look through his two backpacks.
“The TRIGGER Project is deeply heartbroken by the shooting that injured two of our youth during Youth Orientation on Monday,” organization founder and CEO Tia Bell said in a statement.
“Gratefully, both are expected to make a full recovery. Regrettably, all youth were exposed to gun violence directly. We are hearing several different accounts of what took place and do not wish to comment until facts are clear and updates from the investigation are shared,” she said.
Ms. Bell said this is the first time a shooting has erupted at one of its youth violence prevention programs, which the organization has been running since 2019.
Council member Wendell Felder, Ward 7 Democrat, released a statement about the shooting, saying he was “deeply troubled” by the violence on church property.
“It is particularly heartbreaking that this incident took place directly next to a youth gun violence prevention program,” Mr. Felder said in a statement. “No one should have to fear for their safety while working to better themselves or attending community events.”
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