Updated at 6:40 p.m.
An 11-year-old was shot and killed Saturday night in Southeast D.C., according to police.
The boy was identified Sunday morning as Davon McNeal of Southeast.
Officers responding to the 1400 block of Cedar Street found McNeal had been shot in the head, police said. Chief Peter Newsham said McNeal was struck around 9:20 p.m., after a group of about five men started shooting in the area.
McNeal was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
It wasn’t clear why the men were shooting. As of last night, police did not have a suspect, but Newsham said if there are related images that can be shared with the public, the department will release them.
Mayor Muriel Bowser responded to the shooting on Twitter, writing: “A mother lost her 11 year old son to gun fire tonight. My thoughts and prayers go out to her and her family.”
https://twitter.com/MurielBowser/status/1279608468173971457
John Ayala, who identified himself as McNeal’s grandfather posted about the 11-year-old on Facebook. He said McNeal had played football for years, and “all he talked about was getting in the NFL.”
Ayala said that McNeal was on his way to a cookout and stopped at his aunt’s house to get a phone charger.
Kevin McGill, McNeal’s football coach, told the Washington Post that McNeal “was on another level when he was on the field.”
“We just had a real genuine kid who wanted to get out of the neighborhood. That’s all he said is, ‘I’m gonna make it,’” McGill told the Post, “These kids’ lives are being robbed over nothing.”
MPD is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction in this case. Anyone with information can call 202-727-9099 or text 50411.
D.C. officials have blamed recent upward trends in killings on the presence of illegal guns and pledged to step up efforts to recover these weapons, including untraceable “ghost guns.” Police have not released any information about the gun used in this case.
In a video of Newsham addressing reporters at the scene of the shooting Saturday night, fireworks are seen bursting in the distance and people off-camera can be heard shouting that police cannot save lives. At one point someone says, “All these damn police officers and y’all can’t save lives.”
The D.C. chapter of Black Lives Matter also tweeted about the shooting, saying it was evidence the department should be defunded. In response to a tweet from the D.C. police union, the group wrote: Your $533M budget should be DEFUNDED BECAUSE YOU CANT KEEP US OR OUR FAMILIES SAFE! @DCPoliceDept was around when this happened, as usual.”
https://twitter.com/DMVBlackLives/status/1279803137939865601
This story was updated with information from family and friends of Davon McNeal.
