2 Dead, 1 Injured In Anacostia Shooting: DC Police

Update Wednesday, May 20, 8:35 a.m.: The Metropolitan Police Department identified the two deceased victims in connection with the Tuesday afternoon fatal shooting in Anacostia, according to a police release. They are Jaszel Henderson, 20, and Terrance Griffin, 31, both of Southeast.

WASHINGTON, DC — Metropolitan Police Department detectives are investigating a Tuesday afternoon shooting in Anacostia that left two men dead and a woman in critical condition, according to a briefing by MPD Chief Peter Newsham.

Officers from the Seventh District we dispatched around 1:30 p.m., for the report of a shooting in the 2400 block of Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, S.E. Arriving on the scene, they found two adult males and an adult female suffering from gunshot wounds. The two men were pronounced dead on the scene and the woman was transported to an area hospital in critical condition.

“We don’t really have a lot regarding the circumstances of what happened,” Newsham said. “We had one witness who gave us a lookout for a Saturn SUV fleeing the scene. We don’t know if that is a suspect now or not. But we are out there looking for a gold-colored Saturn that may have some information relative to this shooting.”

When asked if the area where the shooting occurred was a hotspot for police activity, Newsham acknowledged the location did provide some challenges for maintaining order.

“We have had shootings here in the past,” he said. “I wouldn’t refer to it as a hotspot, but we do have a lot of people come down here just to frequent the business area. What happens in any one of these circumstances is you have bad actors with a brazen disregard for public safety that come down here and they think they can settle disputes with a firearm. The next thing you know, we got two young men who have unnecessarily lost their lives and you’ve got a young woman who’s in a hospital suffering from a gunshot wound to her abdomen. It’s completely unnecessary.”

Police have not confirmed the identity of any of the victims nor have they determined a motive for the shootings.

Anyone with information about this incident to call MPD 202-727-9099.