One person was killed and seven others—including two children—were injured during three separate shootings in Southeast on Tuesday as incidents of gun violence continue to mount across the District.

Angela Washington, a 41-year-old special police officer from Suitland, MD, was on duty when she was fatally shot around 8:30 p.m. in the 3300 block of 10th Place SE, near Savannah Street, according to the Metropolitan Police Department. The circumstances surrounding Washington’s shooting remain unclear. Washington was a mother of four and a grandmother to a one-year-old, according to the Washington Post.

Police say the possible shooting suspect was last seen in a white Camry with dark tinted windows on Wheeler Road heading toward Southern Avenue Southeast, and they’re offering a $25,000-reward for information leading to the  suspect’s arrest.

Also on Tuesday, a 9-year-old boy received superficial wounds and an adult man was shot multiple times in his torso on the 1500 block of Morris Road SE following an earlier dispute between two 9-year-olds. The man was taken to the hospital to undergo surgery; the 9-year-old’s injuries were non-life threatening. Assistant Chief Andre Wright said police believe it was a “targeted shooting” that occurred “very specific to this altercation.”

“I can’t think of any topic where two nine-year-olds would have a disagreement and a gun would be introduced by anyone,” Wright said.

A 13-year-old boy was also shot earlier Tuesday, one of five people hit by gunfire outside of a convenience store on Alabama Ave SE. Police have video surveillance of the shooting suspect, who was wearing jeans and a black hoodie, and are seeking information about the individual’s identity and whereabouts.

“These types of crimes that happen in our community should be unacceptable,” MPD Chief Robert Contee III, who started the job just nine month ago, told reporters at the scene of Tuesday morning’s incident. “We have a responsibility as a law enforcement agency, as well as to the community to bring those individuals to justice.”

Contee also pleaded for the community’s help.

So far this year, there have been 154 homicides in the District — that’s a 12% increase from this time last year, according to D.C. police data. We’re on pace to overtake 2020, when the District saw close to 200 homicides, the most in 15 years (the numbers remain well below D.C.’s historic highs in the ’90s). This year, the District has also had more than 2,800 incidents of violent crime, an increase of 2% since this time last year, according to police data.

Earlier this year, the high rate of homicides in 2020 prompted D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to declare gun violence a public health crisis and pledge $15 million to a new initiative to decrease violence in targeted neighborhoods–including three in Anacostia. Then over the summer, when six-year-old Nyiah Courtney was shot and killed, Bowser told the police department to use as much overtime as necessary to reduce violent crime. Contee also created community focused patrol units of officers on bikes and scooters, with the aim of connecting officers and community members more directly.