A 17-year-old boy died on Sunday and twenty others were injured in a shooting during a big barbecue, attended by hundreds of people in southeast Washington DC, police reported. Authorities indicated that at least three people fired around about 00.30 hrs local time from different points during the party, which took place in the Greenway neighbourhood.

There the police have found about 170 bullet debris. District of Columbia Police Chief Peter Newsham told reporters that the deceased teenager was identified and that among the injured, including eleven women, there is an officer who “is fighting for her life” who was off duty and apparently attended the BBQ.

The District of Columbia Fire Department said at least nine of the victims transported to hospitals had serious injuries. Currently, the police are looking for at least three suspects, although Newsham, which called the event an “isolated incident”, did not rule out that there may be more.

The police chief added that the authorities had not authorized this party of hundreds of people. Currently, gatherings of more than 50 people were prohibited in the District of Columbia due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In that sense, Newsham said that there were agents in the vicinity of the party, but they were unable to control the concentration of people or avoid it. For his part, the mayor of DC, Muriel Bowser, stressed to journalists: “It is very important that, as a community, we have zero tolerance for this activity.”

The Washington Post newspaper indicated that this event occurs three weeks after a person lost their lives and eight suffered gunshot wounds in front of a restaurant on 14th Street, in the capital.

According to the newspaper’s data, more than 115 people have been murdered so far this year in DC, a 17% increase over 2019. Authorities have attributed some of the killings to disputes between neighbourhood gangs and between people who are known among them.