D.C. lawmaker calls for state of emergency amid surge in gun violence, 3 teens fatally shot in 2021

A District of Columbia lawmaker is asking District leaders to declare a state of emergency amid a spree of deadly gun violence, including the fatal shooting of three teens so far this year in city’s poor neighborhoods.

There have been 14 homicides in D.C. in 2021 so far, compared to 11 at the same time in 2020, according to the news website dcist.

Last year was the most violent in the nation’s capital in roughly the past 15 years – including 198 people killed with the overwhelming majority of the victims black men who lived east of the Anacostia River, where the median annual household income is roughly $39,000. 

Eighty percent of those killed in 2020 were shot with a firearm, dcist also reports.

The state of emergency call is being led by Council member Trayon White, a Democrat in the Democrat-controlled city.

White says inadequate funding for violence-prevention programs is part to blame, and he said residents should be doing more to prevent violence in their neighborhoods. 

"This is a community problem," he said. "We all have a role to play. And I do agree that we have not done enough."