A music festival in Washington DC turned bloody when a shooting incident killed a teenage boy and wounded three others including a police officer.
According to the resources, sudden gunshots erupted on a corner of the street where the crowd was dispersing after attending the “Advocacy” festival named as “Moechella”.
The festival premises were shut down mere moments before the gunfire eruption because of dangerous conditions.
The music festival had been advertised across the city as a peaceful event to be held at 14th street to celebrate Juneteenth. But the reality was otherwise as concluded by the police. The police recovered a lot of illegal guns and other ammunition from the scene in just two and half hours, compelled to shut it down.
Robert Contee, the Metropolitan Police Department Chief stated, “When you have large gatherings in a dense area, all it takes is one person introducing a gun to the situation that makes it deadly, in this case, unfortunately, a 15-year-old lost his life.”
The Police Chief further stated that the teenager succumbed to death on the spot whereas the police officer was shot in his lower torso and is being treated in a nearby hospital. His condition is said to be out of danger. The other two people who got wounded were also taken to the hospital immediately and are said to be doing well and out of critical condition.
Robert Contee stated that before the eruption of gunshots, a fight had begun amongst the attendees of the festival, the same place where many illegal weapons were recovered by the police.
The gunshots caused a disturbance in the dense and populated area as people started to run in different directions causing a stampede. Police shut down the festival at the moment.
The officers and emergency squad were already present at the scene, aiding the people who had been injured in the stampede when an unknown assailant started firing gunshots resulting in the death of a 15-year-old teenager and wounding other three including a police officer.
A firearm was also recovered from one of the injured but the police are certain that it was not used during the shooting incident. There was absolutely no crossfire or exchange of shots between the police and the suspect or the victims.
Police revealed that Moechella was an “unpermitted event” and the chaos erupted at the premises somewhere around 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. about 100 officers were already at the festival.
“Right before the shooting occurred, our officers recovered an illegal firearm… Shortly before I walked down here, our officers recovered another illegal firearm … and they were chasing another person with an illegal firearm in the area,” Police ChiefContee said at the press conference.
“I think there’s a theme that you see here.”
“Illegal firearms in the hands of people who should not have them make events like this unsafe for people who just want to enjoy the beautiful weather, who wants to enjoy Father’s Day and want to enjoy our city.”
The suspect involved is still at large. The Mayor of Washington DC, Muriel Bowser, and Contee stated that the organizers of the event will be held responsible for creating a dangerous situation that too without a permit.“We have a child that was killed today at an event that did not have any proper planning for the number of people who were here,” Bowser said. “Even with our police managing a crowd on-site, somebody used a gun and a child is dead. We need some accountability here.”
