12-year-old boy dies after Northeast DC shooting that killed another boy

A 12-year-old boy has died after a shooting Tuesday that killed another boy in Northeast D.C., police say.

Two shooters opened fire on a group of young people as they stood in a parking lot outside a convenience store on Kenilworth Avenue on Tuesday afternoon, police said.

Initially, police said a 13-year-old boy was killed in the shooting. Investigators said Wednesday that victim was 14 years old.

A 12-year-old boy who was critically hurt in the shooting also has died, police said in an update Wednesday.

Police said the victims were walking in a group at about 3:30 p.m. when the suspects sprayed the area outside the Circle Express convenience store with bullets. One man who spoke to News4 said he heard more than 30 gunshots.

“The information that we believe is, possibly two shooters came up and then discharged at the group, striking our two young people,” Interim Chief of Police Jeffery Carroll told reporters.

D.C.’s public school students are out on spring break this week.

The convenience store is next to a large residential neighborhood that includes the Mayfair Mansions apartment complex and newer residential buildings.

One young person died and another is seriously hurt after police believe two shooters opened fire near a food truck off Kenilworth Avenue NE. The victims are 12 and 13, the interim police chief said, according to initial information. News4’s Jackie Bensen reports.

People became upset and angry when they heard what happened and how young the victims are.

“I got a call and they said, ‘Get over there. A mother needs you.’ And I’m here,” community activist Terra Martin said. Her son Delaneo was shot to death by a U.S. Park Police officer in 2023 not far from the scene of Tuesday’s violence.

Martin, who knows the family of one of the victims, did not hold back her grief and outrage.

“These kids are babies! They’re younger than my son. My son was only 17, but these kids are younger than that,” she said.

Longtime activist Jay Brown, who also has personal ties to the neighborhood, said he’s frustrated by what he described as efforts to address youth violence that don’t take into account unique situations specific to a neighborhood.

“These kids tell me all the time, they can’t even go to a summer youth program because they’re scared to leave off of the property. They’re concerned about getting killed. So they wanted to have, always wanted to have, the programs on the property,” he said.

Police have not yet arrested any suspects in the shooting or released any information about their appearance.