A 15-year-old was killed and three people injured — including a D.C. police officer — when a shooting broke out at a popular annual musical celebration at the intersection of 14th and U Streets NW on Sunday night.

According to D.C. police officials, the shooting happened towards the end of the Moechella event, a regular concert-turned-protest launched in 2019 in the wake of moves to limit go-go music in the U Street area and other parts of the city. It also took place only hours after a 16-year-old girl was found shot and unresponsive in an apartment in Southeast D.C. She later died.

Officials say that police broke up a number of incidents in the crowd, and started clearing the event around 8:30 p.m. because it had spilled out of the intersection — which was blocked off by city vehicles and into the surrounding streets. At that point another incident flared up at the intersection, resulting in the shooting. Video shared on social media showed hundreds of people fleeing from the scene as the gunshots broke out. Police later identified the teenager as Chase Poole of Northwest.

Speaking Sunday night, D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee said the officer and two other victims had been transported to area hospitals and were expected to survive. He said a gun was recovered from one of the victims, but that police have not yet found the people or gun responsible for the fatal shooting.

Contee also said the event had been “unpermitted,” even though the concerts have happened in the past and Sunday’s event — which was advertised as a “peaceful demonstration” to coincide with the Juneteenth celebration — was co-sponsored by the D.C. Housing Finance Agency, an independent government agency. Past Moechella events have taken place without incident. 

Contee said police are considering punitive action against organizers for the violence that broke out. “We will certainly want to make sure people are held accountable when they hold unpermitted events in our city. This is one of the reasons why we don’t want unpermitted events taking place in our city. Unfortunately things like this can happen when you have the wrong mix of people or people who introduce firearms into a situation,” he said.

Unpermitted events like protests are a regular occurrence in D.C., and police regularly deploy officers to assist. Contee said at least 100 officers were at the scene during Moechella, which started at 4 p.m. and was set to end at 8 p.m.

In a statement posted on Instagram, Moechella organizers decried the violent end to the event.

“As we continue to cultivate a platform to uplift the culture of Washington, D.C., we don’t condone violence of any sort,” it said. “Moechella is a symbol of Black culture in D.C. and is built on the foundation of peace. Please keep this in mind moving forward as occurrences of such will not be tolerated and will result in us being stripped of the opportunity to activate our platform.”

Go-go is celebrated as one of D.C.’s most well-known cultural exports, and in 2020 the D.C. Council designated it as the city’s official music. But the genre’s history with law enforcement is a difficult one. In 2010, MPD started producing a regular “go-go report” that listed upcoming performances so police could get ahead of possible altercations between feuding neighborhood crews. Go-go proponents said such actions criminalized the music, pushing clubs and bands outside the city.

The shooting happened just two days before the city’s June 21 primary, when the D.C. Council seat representing Ward 1 — where the incident took place — is up for grabs and public safety has become a prominent issue. Salah Czapary, a former D.C. police officer who is challenging Councilmember Brianne Nadeau (D-Ward 1), tweeted that the shooting only reinforced his call for more police.

“Enough is enough. The level of violence in our ward is unacceptable. Tonight is yet another tragic reminder of why any call for diminishing police and crime prevention resources is misguided,” he wrote on Twitter.

Nadeau, for her part, tweeted that the violence had happened even though a significant number of police officers were standing nearby. “Unfortunately MPD and FEMS presence on site were not a deterrent,” she wrote. Sabel Harris, an ANC commissioner who is also challenging Nadeau, sided with the incumbent on that point. “More MPD wouldn’t have prevented this,” wrote Harris.

According to NBC Washington, Mayor Muriel Bowser expressed anger over the shooting. “We have a child who was killed today at an event that did not have any proper planning for the number of people who were here and with guns involved. And with our police managing a crowd, on site, somebody used a gun. And a child is dead,” she was reported as saying.

On Twitter, Councilmember Robert White (D-At Large), who attended the event earlier in the day and is running against Bowser, expressed sadness over the deadly incident.

“Moechella has brought so many people joy since the original demonstration celebrating D.C. culture in 2019. It is devastating to see an event like this end in tragedy. Each day, our fear grows and our residents are becoming afraid to participate in community with neighbors,” he wrote. “Ending gun violence requires urgency behind a comprehensive and coordinated approach between government and communities. We have to rise to meet this challenge together and do it urgently.”

On Instagram, Councilmember Trayon White (D-Ward 8), who is also running for mayor, shared his own disappointment. “We are supposed to be commemorating the freedom of slaves on June 19, 1865 but some of our minds are still enslaved,” he wrote. “We have to do better, time is running out.”