Safety concerns grow in Southeast DC neighborhood after mass shooting and years of violence

WASHINGTON — After a mass shooting at a building in Southeast D.C. left five people wounded last week, concerns continue to grow over the safety of the neighborhood's residents. The building is less than 100 feet away from a senior living facility.

“It’s just not good,” Harold Smith, who lives nearby, told WUSA9. “I’m at the stage in my life where I just want to relax, sit back, enjoy. It’s kind of hard to enjoy when people shooting.”

Smith can’t hold back his emotions when it comes to violence along the 900 block of Varney Street. “To have folks out here shooting around kids, that’s bad,” Smith said.

Smith says because of all this violence, residents now stay in the house more often. “For the most part,” Smith said, “I’m only out when I have to be.”

He, along with several others who live across the street, say the building on the corner where gunshots rang out last Friday has been a problem for years.

“Every year a shooting has happened in that location. It seems like for the past three or four years, and that’s the sad thing about,” Lashawn Hubbard said.

Hubbard is one of five victims of that mass shooting which happened near her children. She told WUSA9 her family is traumatized from the experience, and she’s ready to relocate.

“It has got to stop,” Hubbard said. “You know it’s sad, we need to come together as a community. It’s tragic you can’t even play in your backyard.”

In May of 2023, police records show a 23-year-old was shot and killed there. In 2022, a man with gunshot wounds was found by D.C. police in the same area.

“As a leader in the community we are doing the best we can to ensure the safety for all the residents in our community and to be honest some of these things are going to take time,” Ward 8 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Salim Adofo said.

WUSA9 discussed those concerns with Commissioner Adofo on Wednesday. He said there’s multiple steps that need to be taken. One of those steps is teaching youth that there are other ways to solve conflict. Another step Adofo identified is holding people who commit crimes accountable.

“Law enforcement in our community, we need to make sure they can bring the perpetrators to justice and hold them accountable and let them know this is not the kind of behavior we will tolerate in our community.”

As the community tries to recover, both Adofo and police are asking for anyone with information to come forward. 

According to the Metropolitan Police Department's Crime Stats website, violent crimes are down in this area over the last year — but residents said they don't feel that way. 

Anyone with information is asked to call the MPD at (202) 727-9099 or text your tip to the Department's tip line at 50411.