A firearm could be seen next to a wooden pallet resting against a small blue tarp. It was not immediately known if that weapon was used in the shooting.
There are three tents and a portable toilet at the small encampment, along with tables, a scooter and a shopping cart. The encampment is along one of the District’s main thoroughfares and near a park used by tourists, residents and business workers.
Police officers outside a nearby convenience store heard the gunshot and saw a man running. Police tweeted that they were looking for a person in his 30s, wearing a white and gray hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans and white sneakers.
Assistant D.C. Police Chief Andre Wright said detectives were seeking video that might have captured the man and will publish images as soon as they are available.
“We want to talk to this individual to find out what occurred,” Wright said in a news conference at the scene. He said he investigators do not yet know what prompted the shooting.
Experts and advocates say there has been a spike in violence against the homeless nationwide in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The Monday morning shooting came two months after police linked a man to the shootings of five homeless people in D.C. and New York City, killing two and injuring three.
The number of homeless encampments in D.C. increased by more than 40 percent from 2020 to 2021, according to Wayne Turnage, the deputy mayor for health and human services, despite aggressive government programs and an overall decrease in the District’s homeless population over the past several years.
Last year, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) launched a pilot program aimed at testing whether the District could permanently clear some of the city’s largest homeless encampments by offering one-year leases to a select number of those living in tents at those sites. The encampment at Thomas Circle is not included in the pilot program.
The D.C. Department of Human Services did not immediately respond to request for comment on its plans regarding the Thomas Circle encampment.
Monday’s shooting comes amid a rise in homicides in the District. Through Sunday night, 76 homicides had been reported in the city, a 5.5 percent increase over the same period in 2021. Killings surpassed 200 in the District last year for the first time since 2003. Police said they seized about 40 illegal firearms in the District this past weekend.
Bill Bortz, who lives in the Thomas Circle neighborhood, said he was walking his dog by the small encampment when he heard “a loud crack” from inside a tent “that could only be a gunshot.” Bortz, who is in his 70s, said he called 911.
Wright cautioned that detectives were in the “very preliminary stages of this investigation.” He said police had responded several times in the past six months to the encampment for “minor spats involving weapons” and had made arrests.
The assistant police chief said city outreach workers have been in contact with people living or visiting the encampment.
“We try to make sure they’re safe and that we’re helping in any way we can,” Wright said. “This is definitely an unfortunate event. We’re on it. And I think that with a little more pieces coming together, we should be able to get this case closed.”
This post will be updated.
Marissa J. Lang and Justin Wm. Moyer contributed to this report.
Read More: D.C. police investigating shooting near Thomas Circle
