A man was shot and rushed to the hospital Thursday evening after gunfire broke out on the 1600 block of Kenilworth Avenue NE, just steps from the Deanwood Metro Station in Northeast Washington, D.C. Officers responded to reports of gunfire around 5:55 p.m. and found the victim conscious and breathing with a gunshot wound before medics took him to a local hospital for treatment.
Police have not released a suspect description or a possible motive, according to WUSA9, which reported the shooting. The outlet notes that police are asking anyone with information, surveillance footage, or knowledge of the incident to come forward. The shooting scene sits directly adjacent to the Metro station and a major pedestrian footbridge over DC-295 that connects neighborhood residents to transit and local amenities, a route that typically sees heavy foot traffic from commuters and nearby residents.
The block is also home to the Elaine Ellis Center of Health at 1627 Kenilworth Avenue NE, a Federally Qualified Health Center that serves Ward 7 residents regardless of their ability to pay, according to D.C. Health.
A Block With a Troubled Recent Past
Thursday's shooting is not an isolated incident on this stretch of Kenilworth Avenue. In November 2021, a 25-year-old man was shot and fatally wounded on the same block before succumbing to his injuries at a hospital, according to DC Witness. More recently, a 17-year-old defendant accepted a plea deal in March 2026 after being charged with shooting a man four times inside Kenilworth Market on the same block the previous November, the outlet also reported.
The violence has not stayed confined to the 1600 block. Two juveniles, ages 12 and 14, were shot and killed in the 700 block of Kenilworth Avenue NE in April 2026, a case Hoodline covered at the time. Months later, in September, MPD charged a 20-year-old suspect with second-degree murder in connection with a separate April 2024 shooting on that same 700 block, after the victim died nine months later from gunshot-related complications that included becoming paraplegic before dying of a pulmonary embolism, as Hoodline reported in September.
Violence Persists Even as Citywide Numbers Improve
Just three days before Thursday's shooting, a man was fatally shot on the 1200 block of Eastern Avenue NE in Ward 7's Deanwood neighborhood, with no arrests made as of Hoodline's most recent report on that case. Eastern Avenue sits along the D.C.-Maryland border near Kenilworth, underscoring how closely clustered the recent violence has been in this part of Ward 7.
The persistence of shootings along the Kenilworth Avenue corridor comes amid broader citywide crime trends. Ward 7 and the Kenilworth Avenue corridor have continued to see periodic localized violence.
Police have not said whether the victim's condition has changed since he was transported to the hospital, and no suspect description has been released. MPD is asking anyone with information, surveillance footage, or knowledge of Thursday's shooting to contact police directly at 202-727-9099 or submit an anonymous tip by text to 50411.
