Following a funeral for a victim of gun violence, a shooting at a funeral home in Washington, DC, left one person dead and three others injured.
Tuesday at 12:17 PM, a shooting took place at Stewart Funeral Home in northeastern DC.
According to Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert Contee, a suspect shot one man dead and numerous other persons were injured while they were standing outside the funeral home as a burial for a victim of gun violence had just ended.
The fact that someone would be so bold to commit such an act, let alone during a funeral, is regrettable, added Contee.
“How despicable of a human being can you be to target people during a funeral?”
An officer who was in a police car close by heard the gunfire and found four adults hurt, Contee said.
It appeared that the three injured victims sustained non-life-threatening wounds.
Multiple people standing outside the funeral home at 4400 block of Benning Road NE after the service were apparently targets, Contee said. But investigators have not determined a motive.
A suspect has not yet been identified.
‘We’re unsure why that is, why these people were targeted, more or less why they were targeted at a funeral, we don’t understand that,’ Contee said.
The shooting happened about 17 minutes after the end of a funeral for a homicide victim who was killed at the end of March. The victim’s family had requested additional police presence through the police department’s victim services section, which is not out of the ordinary, Contee said.
‘There could be some reasonable fear there,’ he said.
‘Unfortunately in this case, someone decided to disrespect this family at this level and commit this senseless act of violence.’
Through traffic at 41st and Benning Road NE and 36th and Blaine Road NE were closed as police investigated the incident.
Contee urged anyone with information on the shooting to contact the police department anonymously.