This story was updated at 3:30 p.m. on August 9.

One person was killed and at least another 20, including an off-duty cop, were injured in a shooting shortly after midnight Sunday at a gathering with hundreds of people in Southeast D.C., according to police.

Police responded to the 3300 block of Dubois Place SE around 12:20 a.m., Chief Peter Newsham told reporters at the scene later Sunday morning.

A 17-year-old, Christopher Brown, died at the hospital, Newsham said. An off-duty 1st District police officer was seriously injured and was “struggling for her life,” he said. 

Newsham did not believe the other injuries were life-threatening. He said police are looking for multiple shooters, noting that gunfire broke out from three different directions after a dispute.

The crime scene spanned several blocks and police found 172 bullets, according to the Washington Post.

Patricia Howard-Chittams is on 7B’s Advisory Neighborhood Commission and lives a half-mile away from where the shootings took place. “I’m honestly just floored,” Howard-Chittams tells DCist.

However, she says this is nothing new. She’s complained about large gatherings of this nature for years, which has resulted in threats and having her tires slashed — it happened this morning, too, Howard-Chittams says.

However, in the present climate, she believes that there’s very little the police can do about it.

“The politicians are not supporting them. Our mayor is not supporting them,” says Howard-Chittams. “If [the police] are aggressive with how they treat the small stuff, they are accused of over-policing… their hands are tied.”

She’s praying for the victims and knows how it feels to go through losing a loved one.

“It is a horrible thing… to lose a family member to gun violence. Having lived through that as a kid, I wouldn’t wish that on anybody.”

She’s also hoping there won’t be retaliation or retribution, which she says is something she’s already heard about it.

“This is what happens over here,” says Howard-Chittams.

D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen (D-Ward 6), who chairs the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, called the shooting “awful” and said the city must work to end gun violence.

“Last night the District suffered a mass shooting. 21 people shot,” Allen wrote on Twitter. “Today a family mourns a life taken. Survivors will never be the same. We have to be dedicated to every aspect of the work to end gun violence, including rooted inequities, to stop the shootings.”

According to Metropolitan Police Department data, as of August 7, there have been 115 homicides in D.C. this year. That’s up from 98 at this time last year — a 17% increase.

The District recorded its 100th homicide of the year four weeks ago on July 12, which is earlier than in past years. Last year, the city recorded its 100th homicide on August 23, and in 2018, D.C. reached that marker on August 5.

This July was a particularly violent month, with 28 people killed in the District, according to the latest available numbers.

On July 19, a shooting in Columbia Heights killed one person and injured eight others on a Sunday afternoon, in an attack that Newsham called “brazen.” Some shooting victims have also been children, including 11-year-old Davon McNeal who was shot and killed on July 4.

Newsham has frequently drawn a link between violence in the District and the presence of illegal guns and repeat gun offenders.

Hundreds of people were present for what multiple news outlets said was a cookout or block party. That far exceeds the 50-person gathering size allowed during Phase 2 of the District’s reopening plan, Newsham said.

Newsham suggested police had been aware of the gathering before the shooting, but there were not enough officers to break up the crowd.

“Nobody can predict that a shooting like this is going to happen at a gathering like this, but we can’t have these large gatherings in our city,” Newsham said, adding: “My understanding, and this is preliminary, it’s subject to change … is that there were officers here. There were not sufficient officers to be able to move a crowd of that size.”

Mayor Muriel Bowser, who joined Newsham at the crime scene, also said it was important that people respect coronavirus safety measures to protect the entire community.

“Several people who have no regard for human life opened fire,” Bowser said of the shooting.

This story was updated with comment from an ANC Commissioner.