A 13-year-old boy was fatally shot inside a Southeast Washington apartment yesterday morning, the latest victim in a surge of violence in the city that has claimed 21 young lives this year.
Michael Swann, a seventh-grader who skipped school yesterday, was shot at least once in the chest about 10:45 a.m. in the bedroom of an apartment near his home in the usually quiet complex, police said.
Sherrie McGrier comforts her 13-year-old cousin outside the Washington View apartment complex in Southeast. McGrier, a resident for five years, knew the victim, seventh-grader Michael Swann.
(Photos Susan Biddle -- The Washington Post)
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It was the second fatal shooting of a District teenager in just 36 hours. Police said they are investigating the possibility that Michael was hit by a bullet that was fired inside the apartment and passed through the bedroom wall.
The level of violence against juveniles has puzzled police because it is taking place against the backdrop of an overall decline in homicides. Neighborhood residents are pushing for stronger law enforcement as well as better school and recreational opportunities. The killings are affecting the psyches of youths, particularly in pockets of Southeast and Northeast Washington, residents and school officials said.
"The streets are hard," said Sylvia Dark, principal of Johnson Junior High School, the Southeast Washington school that Michael attended. "It's hard on the students, and they don't expect to live long. They don't get to be children."
Dark announced Michael's death over the school's public address system. Counselors arrived by early afternoon and were scheduled to be in classes today, and Dark sent a letter home to parents that included tips on identifying post-traumatic stress disorder in their children.
D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey said he could not explain the spike in juvenile killings. In 2003, 12 victims younger than 18 were killed, and 16 were slain in 2002. In 1999, 28 juveniles were homicide victims. Overall, the city is on track to finish the year just shy of 200 homicides, the fewest in nearly two decades.
In Baltimore, a city of about the same population as the District, police are confronting a similar problem. Through yesterday, police officials said, 29 juveniles have been slain this year. In 2003, 35 were killed.
Ramsey said a culture of casual street violence could be a factor in some juvenile homicides. He also said that many of the youths were committing crimes when they were killed.
"It's important to remember that when engaging in high-risk behavior, it increases the odds of being injured or killed," Ramsey said. "With the exception of a few innocent victims, the majority engaged in high-risk behavior."
Of this year's juvenile homicide victims, 16 have died from gunshot wounds. Four others were beaten. One -- just 10 months old -- died of a methadone overdose.
The victims include James Richardson, 17, shot in February inside Ballou Senior High School; Chelsea Cromartie, 8, killed in May by a stray bullet while visiting her aunt; and Myesha Lowe, 15, slain while sitting in a car in July.
Homicide investigators were continuing to seek clues in Saturday's slaying of 16-year-old Ashley Walker in Southeast Washington. The girl, a junior at Ballou, was shot inside a stolen car, police said.
Ramsey expressed frustration that witnesses in that slaying were not cooperating, including some he described as friends of the girl. "That case is wide open," the chief said. "Our sense is that they know who did the shooting."