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Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee said that at approximately 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 11, a fight started inside a bus near 14th Street and Fort Stevens that resulted in the children accidentally being struck by errant gunfire.
Officials say that several suspects rushed onto the Metrobus at a stop in the Brightwood neighborhood and began to assault one of the passengers before the action spilled out into the street.
During the fight, officials say that the gunman took out his weapon, fired it, and accidentally shot a 6-year-old, 9-year-old, and third man.
All three were taken to the hospital with what was described as "serious, but non-life-threatening injuries,” according to Contee and other DC officials, whose patience is boiling over early in 2023 following a rash of gun violence throughout DC to start the new year.
“All of my concern is with a 6-year-old and a 9-year-old and all they were doing was coming home from school," DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said. "And an idiot with a gunshot it, indiscriminately, and shot two children."
“You shouldn’t be fighting for your life or recovering from a gunshot because of an idiot with a gun who doesn’t care about his own life. Who doesn’t care about theirs.”
No shooter has been identified, nor has a motive been announced by police.
The investigation into the shooting is ongoing. Police say that they are looking for the group and the shooter, who was only described as being a Hispanic man in his 20s who was wearing dark pants and a dark jacket at the time of the incident.
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