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15-Year-Old Shot Dead At DC Metro Station

Screenshot/YouTube/WUSA9

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Steve Birr Vice Reporter
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A gunman fatally shot a 15-year-old boy at a Washington, D.C. Metro station Saturday in what police are describing as an intentional killing.

Police were dispatched to the Deanwood Metro station around 4:15 p.m. and took the boy to a local hospital where he succumbed to his wounds. Police identified the victim Sunday as 15-year-old Davonte Washington, a teen from Northeast D.C., reports NBC Washington.

The victim’s mother was reportedly at the scene and witnessed the shooting, according to a witness who saw her screaming and crying.

“All I heard was the lady say, ‘They shot my son,’ and the babies was crying, so I was trying to console them,” the witness told NBC Washington. “So, I just kept saying, ‘Jesus, in the name of Jesus. He’s in heaven.”

A conversation in the station between Washington and the gunman escalated into an argument, according to Commander David Taylor of the Metropolitan Police Department. During the altercation, the suspect pulled out his gun and shot Washington before fleeing the scene. Washington was with his mother and sisters at the time, according to relatives who spoke to NBC Washington.

Police do not have any suspects and have yet to release a description of what the shooter looks like, however, authorities say the killing looks deliberate.

“It’s not believed to be random, that’s for sure,”  Taylor told NBC Washington.

Washington’s relatives were critical of the Metro system in the wake of the shooting and lambasted the lack of on-the-ground security in stations.

“There was no police officer in the station nowhere,” the victim’s grandfather, identified as Leonard, told NBC Washington. “My daughter says she was running looking for help and there was no one in sight. It’s been a very somber Easter and we’re just trying to be here for each other and it’s very shocking, very unexpected.”

Anxiety is once again gripping commuters and District residents in the wake of Saturday’s tragedy. Safety concerns are a perennial problem for the plagued D.C. Metro system, which suffered a number of high profile attacks earlier this year, including a shooting aboard a moving train and assault of a police officer.

“I don’t feel safe, and that’s the truth,” a city resident told WUSA9. “I don’t feel safe. I live so close to the subway. I don’t feel safe.”

Mayor Muriel Bowser and former Mayor Vincent Gray, who’s currently running for a Council seat, appeared at the crime scene to address the regular violence seen across city transit.

“We’re not going to tolerate it,” Bowser said at the crime scene. “Anytime somebody comes on Metro property, we’re going to know who they are.”

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