An adult man was shot late Saturday night in the Randle Highlands section of Southeast D.C. and rushed to a local hospital, with police now combing the neighborhood for a gray or silver sedan that fled the scene. The shooting happened in the 1600 block of 28th Street SE, a residential corner of Ward 7 that has seen its share of police activity before.
According to DC News Now, Metropolitan Police Department officers were dispatched to the block for the shooting, and MPD reported that officers found an adult male with a gunshot wound. Official emergency alert logs show the dispatch came in at approximately 10:56 p.m. Saturday under event number I20260491318, according to AlertDC. DC Fire and EMS responded to the scene, and the man was transported to an area hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, per the same account.
A social media post from a self-described on-scene observer offered additional detail on the victim's condition in the first moments after officers arrived. Sixth District officers who reached the block first found the man conscious and breathing despite his gunshot wounds, before paramedics took him for treatment, according to Killmoenews On Scene
.
Police Search for Fleeing Sedan
Police said the suspect may be driving a silver or gray vehicle, the station's report notes. A police alert issued at 11:25 p.m. Saturday, October 17, 2026, instructed the public to watch for a gray or silver sedan seen fleeing the 1600 block of 28th Street SE following the gunfire, per AlertDC. Anyone with information is asked to call 202-727-9099 or text 50411, the unlinked tip lines the outlet's report includes.
The 1600 block of 28th Street SE sits within Ward 7's Randle Highlands neighborhood, inside Advisory Neighborhood Commission 7B and MPD's Sixth District, a historic residential area bounded by Pennsylvania Avenue SE, according to a description sourced to Wikipedia's entry on Randle Highlands. In November 2023, officers recovered an unarmed, carjacked ride-share vehicle on the 300 block of 9th Street SE and arrested three juveniles between the ages of 12 and 15, as reported by WUSA9.
Part of a Broader Pattern in Southeast DC
Saturday's shooting adds to a string of recent gun violence reports in Southeast D.C. this month, including Hoodline's coverage of a 65-year-old woman shot dead on Frederick Douglass Court, two men shot and hospitalized on Buena Vista Terrace SE, and a triple shooting on Savannah Terrace SE where police also searched for a fleeing silver sedan.
The pattern reflects a mixed citywide trend. Council on Criminal Justice data shows homicides in Washington, D.C. fell 41% in the first six months of 2026 compared with the same period in 2025, according to the Council on Criminal Justice. Even as fatal shootings dropped, non-fatal gun assaults rose 13% and aggravated assaults climbed 45% over the same stretch, the organization's data shows.
Investigation Continues
To address persistent gun violence clusters like the one in Randle Highlands, MPD runs targeted enforcement strategies including Operation THRIVE, which directs officers and Real-Time Crime Center monitoring toward violent crime hot spots across Southeast D.C., according to the Niskanen Center. D.C.'s Office of the Attorney General separately runs the Cure the Streets violence interruption program in Ward 7, using credible local messengers to de-escalate disputes and prevent retaliatory gunfire, per the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia.
As of Sunday, no arrests had been announced in connection with the 28th Street SE shooting, and the search for the gray or silver sedan continues.
