Violence in Washington D.C.: Deadly shooting near the White House

A massive police presence, extensive road closures and orders to stay at home caused great excitement in the US capital Washington on Thursday. The reason for the large-scale police operation was a shooting not far from the White House in which at least one person was killed and four others were injured. The shooting happened in the middle of rush hour traffic just before 8 a.m. local time.

The alleged perpetrator was initially able to flee the crime scene and barricaded himself in a nearby apartment building, where he later killed himself, according to police reports. Washington Acting Police Chief Jeffery Carroll said the suspected shooter appeared to have had a dispute with the apartment building's homeowners' association. However, the exact motive for the crime has yet to be determined.

The shooting occurred in the trendy Logan Circle neighborhood, which is about a mile north of the White House. Several blocks along 15th Street were cordoned off and police urged people to avoid the area. Schools in the area imposed a security lockdown, which was only lifted at 11:30 a.m. local time.

According to eyewitness reports, the shooting occurred in a gym. There, the suspect is said to have shot at least one person before going outside and opening fire on passers-by. One person is said to have been killed. There is currently no more precise information about the health status of the four injured people. However, one of the people was reported to have suffered life-threatening injuries.

Resident James Spellman, who was at the gym when the incident occurred, told the Associated Press that about 50 people were there at the time of the incident. "A man fell to the ground and a pool of blood came out. A person rushed to help him, but he died instantly. He had been shot in the neck," he said.

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser called the shooting a “senseless act of gun violence.” Bowser said she knows “that many D.C. residents were woken up by this news and were very afraid.”

After the original crime, the suspected shooter barricaded himself in an apartment. As the police later announced, the authorities managed to contact the suspect. They could have spoken and negotiated with the suspect, identified as a white man, for more than an hour. When police officers heard a gunshot during the conversation, they stormed the apartment. There they say they found the suspect with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. According to police, the suspect has since died.

Violence in the US capital is nothing new. With 27.3 murders per 100,000 residents, Washington was one of the most dangerous cities in the USA in 2024. After taking office, US President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency and sent the National Guard to the capital with the aim of fighting crime there.

However, according to a study by the non-partisan Niskanen Center think tank, this has so far had only limited success. The number of property crimes has fallen. The latest crime statistics published in October showed that the number of violent crimes increased by 11 percent compared to the same period last year. According to police statistics, assaults involving gun violence in particular have increased by 41 percent.

However, police also said that homicides have fallen by 28 percent so far this year. Robberies (down 3 percent) and rapes (down 4 percent) also fell slightly.