Three people died and nine more were wounded in separate "unacceptable" shootings just minutes apart Wednesday in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, authorities said.
Washington Metropolitan Police Department officers were called at 12:49 p.m. to O Street NW, where five people were shot, two of them fatally, in front of a senior citizens home, officials said.
Police were looking for a black sport-utility vehicle that was driving south on Capitol Street NW and turned right on O Street when "at least two shooters" stepped out of the car and opened fire, Executive Assistant Police Chief Ashan Benedict said.
"We're going to need the public's assistance on this one," Benedict told reporters in hope that witnesses come forward or provide video.
It wasn't immediately clear whether the victims were residents of the home for seniors.
The block is known as an "open air drug market," Benedict said.
"MPD routinely polices this area and makes arrests for narcotics violations, but folks essentially get back out," Benedict said.
"So this is an ongoing problem for us. So we need the community's help to continue to quell the disturbance in this area, unfortunately, that's led to the point that five people were shot today. That's unacceptable."
Three fire marshals were conducting inspections near the shooting and witnessed at least part of the crime, police said.
"They basically walked into this situation," Benedict said. "They're going to be helpful to our investigation."
In Baltimore, officers rushed to the corner of Shirley and Park Heights avenues at about 12:24 p.m. as “two victims were located at the scene” and five “victims suffering from gunshot wounds walked into area hospitals seeking treatment,” Baltimore police said in a statement.
One of the two found at the scene died as police searched for a person in a silver Lexus sedan, police said.
As in Washington, the Baltimore victims were shot by multiple people, Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said.
"Two individuals exited that vehicle and began firing at the group of individuals who were seated and standing at the intersection," Harrison told reporters.
All the victims in both shootings are men; they were not immediately identified.
This is a developing story. Please refresh here for updates.
