Police to Step Up Patrols After Violence

"Of course, when the weather gets better, more people are outside, and in this case, we're hearing of scenes of people hanging out and drinking in groups," she said.

The stepped-up enforcement plan would include many of the strategies already being used in Northeast, Groomes said. "We've been doing sweeps against public disorder and drinking in public. We've been doing gun recovery. We've increased traffic enforcement. We've been knocking on doors of those on parole and those associated with gangs."

The main difference, she added, is that police will broaden those efforts through the city. "After last night, we realize that we don't know where it could hit next anymore. So we've got to expand this Districtwide."

At a previously scheduled meeting in Northeast yesterday, some residents blamed public assistance programs for relocating people without considering existing disputes.

"When you have people who were once neighborhood rivals now being forced to live together, it's just creating problems," Shirley Worthy said.

Others cited poverty and a lack of after-school programs for youths, job training and affordable housing.

U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor, who was at the meeting, said prosecutors could jail criminals, but wished "to find ways to prevent the crime from happening in the first place.

Staff writers Hamil R. Harris and Martin Weil contributed to this report.