DC Police Officer 'Struggling For Her Life' After Mass Shooting

WASHINGTON, DC — A Washington, D.C. Metropolitan police officer is "struggling for her life" after she was shot early Sunday morning when gunfire erupted during a large gathering on the city's Southeast Side, Police Chief Peter Newsham said. The officer was one of at least 20 people who were shot at the gathering, including a 17-year-old who has since died.

Officials have identified Christopher Brown as the fatal victim of the shooting, which Newsham said involved multiple shooters in the 3300 block of DuBois Place Southeast in the city's Greenway neighborhood. The officer who was seriously wounded is assigned to the police department's First District, Newsham said. She was not on duty at the time.

The gathering from which the gunfire erupted was a cookout attended by hundreds of people, according to a Washington Post report. Police found about 170 bullet casings in a crime scene that sprawled several blocks since many of the victims scattered, the report states.

Newsham confirmed it was a "large gathering" that set the backdrop for the mass shooting incident.

"Certainly way too many people out during COVID-19," he told reporters on Sunday.

8.9.20 Chief Newsham provides an update on shooting that occurred in the 3300 block of Dubois Place, SE pic.twitter.com/T2RWNNEHEi
— DC Police Department (@DCPoliceDept) August 9, 2020

Newsham said at least 11 of the shooting victims are women, and all but two — including Brown — are adults.

But other than Brown and the police officer, "the rest of the gunshot wounds, as far as we know, are non-life threatening," Newsham said.

Arrests had not been announced as of 4 p.m. Sunday.