A deadly week in the District that included a student fatally shot in a high school parking lot in Petworth and a fifth-grader hit by a stray bullet on Mother’s Day has left city leaders and residents frustrated over the seemingly unrelenting violence.
“Oh God, they took my son away,” Lazo wrote on Facebook after her son was killed. “They will pay for all of it … ”
Authorities said Luna-Perez was shot Wednesday afternoon in the parking lot of Roosevelt High School, where he had attended classes earlier in the day. Police said there had been an altercation, and they found a gun at the scene. Authorities said they were still investigating the circumstances and motive and had made no arrests.
“It’s a horrible time to be a parent,” said Deirdre Mozee, 57, whose daughter is an 11th-grader at Roosevelt. “You have to pray so hard every day for your kids when they leave out the door to go to school.”
The slayings of Luna-Perez and 10-year-old Arianna Davis were among five fatal shootings in the District this week. In one, police said a woman was shot in a dispute over a cellphone. In another, a man was gunned down in a parking lot while arguing with another man high on drugs, according to court documents.
Homicides in D.C. are up 11 percent so far this year compared to the same time in 2022, and violent crime is up 14 percent. Seven of this year’s 84 homicide victims were younger than 18.
As of May 11, D.C. police said 43 juveniles had been shot, double the number at the same time last year. Statistics show that 105 juveniles were shot in all of 2022, 16 of them fatally.
Ronald L. Moten, a longtime anti-violence worker in D.C., said the deadly week illustrates the brokenness of the city’s criminal justice system. He called for more accountability for children and their parents, which he said sometimes means detention and at other times means home visits to provide help to struggling families.
“We are not talking about mass incarceration, we are not talking about locking up every kid who committed a violent crime,” Moten said. “We are talking about balance.”
Moten said he has been impressed by how much the Bowser administration and the D.C. Council have focused on public safety — but their ideas have been lacking. “As far as commitment, which is resources, I would give them an A,” he said. “For strategy and plan? They have to go back to the drawing board.”
The Bowser administration has implemented a variety of anti-violence initiatives and alternative justice programs, including People of Promise, focusing intense services on the 230 or so people chosen as the most likely to be a victim or perpetrator of violent crime. But city leaders have at times struggled to articulate a cohesive vision to drive down violence, and last year a deputy mayor graded the Promise program a C-plus. A mayoral spokeswoman did not offer further comment.
Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) this week proposed legislation that would make it easier for judges to detain certain violent offenders on new charges and impose stiffer penalties for illegal gun possession.
Council member Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2), who chairs the public safety oversight committee, said “there is a sense of hopelessness for the people who are engaging in this violence.” She added that “so much of the hopelessness comes from lack of opportunity, and that’s what we’re really trying to get at.”
Pinto said there is a need to “rebuild our police department,” which has lost hundreds of officers over the past several years. She said she would hold hearings on the mayor’s legislative proposal, adding, “I am glad she put forward a package to continue the conversation about very needed public safety improvements.”
Mozee, a member of Roosevelt’s fledgling parent-teacher organization, said she is counting down the days to graduation, because problems on the campus have gotten to be overwhelming. She said teachers are being asked not only to teach, but to take on the roles of caregivers and social workers. Fights are common, she said, and students do not feel heard.
She said her daughter returned to school Thursday, and Mozee fears for the girl’s life.
The school system did not immediately respond to questions raised by Mozee and declined to comment on the investigation into Luna-Perez’s shooting, referring questions to police. Roosevelt’s principal, Courtney Wilkerson, sent a letter to parents noting some students may have witnessed the shooting or the first responder treating the victim. Those students were connected with a counselor. She wrote that “coping with the effects of gun violence is a difficult experience.”
Meanwhile, a day after Arianna died at a hospital, her family continued to grieve. A GoFundMe page organized by teachers at a Capitol Hill day care where the girl’s mother works, described Arianna as a “sweet and loving child” who enjoyed TikTok, dancing and her three brothers.
The Thomas Elementary School student loved her “Mommy and Daughter Dates,” according to the page. She and her mother would get their nails done, grab a bite to eat and shop together. Arianna was supposed to start middle school in the fall. Her aunt, reached by phone, said the family needed more time before speaking about the child.
Delonte Gholston, lead pastor at Peace Fellowship Church, met Arianna a few weeks ago at a vigil for her cousin, who was shot and killed two years ago. She held an orange balloon, Gholston said, to show her support for gun violence prevention.
The next time Gholston was with Arianna was at a hospital, a bullet lodged in her head.
His thoughts retreated to other children killed by gunfire, including a 1-year-old hit by a bullet while strapped into a car seat in his father’s vehicle in Southeast Washington in 2020. He said he has attended at least 100 vigils for people killed in violent acts in D.C.
“When a 15-month-old baby is killed, I should have gone by Union Station and seen all of the flags at half-staff,” he said. “Everything should have stopped. But we just go on like nothing has happened.”
Magda Jean-Louis contributed to this report.