13/03/2013 / UNITED STATES
Surveillance video released by Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police
Washington D.C. drive-by shooting: 'I just prayed nobody got killed'
Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police have released a surveillance video of a Monday drive-by shooting in a bid to encourage witnesses to come forward with information. Thirteen people were injured, one of whom suffered a serious bullet wound to the back.
The video shows two cars speed by a group of pedestrians, some of whom are seen falling to the ground while others run away. The video was shot between 2 and 3 a.m. on March 11 outside Tyler House Apartments, an eight-story residence on North Capitol Street in downtown Washington, D.C.
Tax breaks for businesses and urban reforms have helped the US capital undergo significant gentrification in recent years. In 2012, Washington D.C. was ranked sixteenth in a Forbes listing American cities with the most violent crime. Only a decade ago, it was seventh on the list. While the city is gradually shaking off its reputation for being rife with violent crime, some spots remain stubbornly crime-ridden and underdeveloped.
France 24 Washington Correspondent Philip Crowther lives two blocks from Tyler House. "It's in an infamous part of town because of the crime rate, drug dealing, and two neighbouring nightclubs," he said. "The shooting doesn't come as a surprise. But it does come as a wake-up call for those who have adopted the new up-and-coming NoMa neighbourhood and weren't aware of or were ignoring the harsher reality nearby”.
Residents are closely following local television reports as police attempt to piece together what happened. France 24 spoke to Diane Wells ( a pseudonym) who has lived in Tyler House Apartments for fifteen years.
Contributors
“The shooting didn’t last long, it was so quick. Those cars were driving really fast”
The shooting woke me up. It was frightening. I’ve seen the police video on the TV, but I didn’t see anything myself. I didn’t want to go to my window, but I got out of bed and ran into my bathroom. I didn’t know what to do, it scared me so bad.
That was the first time I ever heard a shooting, so I didn’t know what it was at first. Normally you don’t hear shooting round here.
I heard a young woman screaming someone’s name, and I just prayed nobody got killed.
The shooting didn’t last long, it was so quick. Those cars were driving really fast.
Then I heard sirens, the police and the ambulances. They came just afterwards, just a few minutes after the shooting. The sirens were there a long time, maybe an hour. I couldn’t sleep afterwards, not with the noise, and I was scared.
The police are trying to get to the bottom of it. They don’t know why it happened, but they said a problem might have come from a nightclub that’s nearby.
This article was written by France 24 journalist Claire Williams
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