WaPo: Stumped by 3-Year-Old’s Killing, D.C. Police Hold Prayer Walk, Increase Reward
Holding signs declaring “Thou Shalt Not Kill,” a group of clergy members led by D.C. Police Chief Pamela A. Smith marched Tuesday evening to the spot where a 3-year-old girl was fatally shot last week in the Garfield Heights neighborhood of Southeast Washington.
The march was short, just three blocks from the 7th District police station. It passed by the fire station on Irving Street SE where a family member had driven the mortally wounded Ty’ah Settles after the Friday night gunfire. Marchers then walked to Hartford Street SE, where police said a vehicle that the girl had been riding in became caught in a crossfire, and where she was struck by a stray bullet.
Smith, an ordained minister, has led the D.C. police force for the past 10 months, joining halfway through 2023, a year in which the city recorded 274 homicides, a quarter-century high. The pace has slowed this year, although six of this year’s victims have been children and others under 18.
Ty’ah Settles was by far the youngest.