wusa9.com

5 people shot, 2 dead after shooting in Congress Heights

Three of those shot have non-life-threatening injuries, officials say.

WASHINGTON — Two people are dead and three people are suffering non-life-threatening injuries after a Wednesday afternoon shooting in the Congress Heights neighborhood of Southeast D.C., police said.

According to D.C. Police, the call came in just before 1:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon for reports of a shooting in the 1300 block of Congress Street and Savannah Street in Southeast D.C. – just a block away from the Congress Heights Metro station.

Once on the scene, officials said they discovered several victims suffering from gunshot wounds. Two people a man and a woman who have not yet been identified died on the scene from their injuries. Two others were transported to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Another person who was shot walked to a nearby hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee said during a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

"As a commissioner, honestly this is brutally toxic. Traumatized. Heartbroken," Congress Heights ANC Commissioner Shekita McBroom said in an interview with WUSA9.

Contee did not release any information on the suspect(s) involved but did tell WUSA9 that D.C. Police are not ruling out multiple suspects. There is a $25,000 reward for information on this case, police said.

A WUSA9 analysis of MPD crime data found the Congress Heights neighborhood has seen more than its share of violent crime over the past two years. During that period, the area within a quarter-mile radius of the shooting has seen 20 assaults with a dangerous weapon, 13 armed robberies and seven homicides before Wednesday.

https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/crime/mutliple-people-shot-congress-heights-shooting-southeast-dc/65-d2fb27c9-3b8f-4b3d-a56f-2f59782ad40a

video

Smugglers Drop 3 & 5 Year Old Children From Border Wall

Mar 31, 2021

…children abandoned by smugglers at night in the middle of nowhere at a 14 foot border barrier…thank God Border agents saw it and intervened.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38kZB3al91U

Authorities: Smugglers drop 2 children over US border wall

Associated Press — 4:59pm

SANTA TERESA, N.M. — Video released Wednesday by federal authorities show two Ecuadoran children being abandoned by smugglers after they were dropped over a 14-foot-high barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The toddler and her 5-year-old sister were unhurt, but officials with the U.S. Border Patrol called the incident appalling.

It comes as the Biden administration struggles with finding space to house the several hundred kids and teenagers who are crossing the border daily. In some cases, parents refused entry into the U.S. have sent their children across the border alone, hoping they eventually will be placed with relatives. As a result, holding facilities are packed, and the administration is scrambling to find more temporary housing options.

Chief Patrol Agent Gloria I. Chavez in the El Paso sector, which includes parts of Texas and New Mexico, said an agent using a remote camera was able to spot a person straddling the barrier. The video shows the person lowering the children one at a time before letting them drop to the ground below. The children stood up as two people fled on the other side of the border.

"We are currently working with our law enforcement partners in Mexico and attempting to identify these ruthless human smugglers so as to hold them accountable to the fullest extent of the law," Chavez said in a statement.

Authorities said Santa Teresa border agents were able to find the 3- and 5-year-old sisters after being directed by the camera operator to the remote location in New Mexico, just west of El Paso, Texas. The girls were alert but were taken to a hospital to be checked out and cleared. They currently remain at a Border Patrol temporary holding facility pending placement by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department.

https://www.startribune.com/authorities-smugglers-drop-2-children-over-us-border-wall/600040776/