1 Killed, 3 Wounded in NW Amid Drop in Homicides

Four people were shot Monday, one of them fatally, in an outburst of gunfire in the Petworth/Brightwood Park area of Northwest Washington, authorities said.

The shooting was reported about 6:30 p.m. in the 900 block of Hamilton Street. No motive was immediately available.

The killing came on the last day of an eight-month period in which the number of homicides has declined about 25 percent from the corresponding figure for last year.

One of the three surviving victims, all men, had wounds that were considered life-threatening, said Pete Piringer, a spokesman for the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department.

A D.C. police spokesman said one of the wounded was hit in the groin, one in the legs and one in the foot.

The shootings occurred on a block bounded by Hamilton and Ingraham streets and Georgia and Illinois avenues. It is about a half-mile east of the tennis center in Rock Creek Park and is just southwest of Truesdell Elementary School on Ingraham Street.

As of Monday, there had been at least 92 homicides in the District, compared with 125 at the same time last year.