A teenage boy died Sunday morning after being shot in Northeast D.C., and police are now searching for a 16-year-old believed to be armed with a handgun. Officers responded around 8:36 a.m. to the 200 block of 46th Street NE, where they found the teen unconscious and not breathing with a gunshot wound.
D.C. Fire and EMS rushed him to a hospital, where he died despite lifesaving efforts, according to WJLA. The outlet reports that police are searching for a person described as a 16-year-old male armed with a handgun in connection with the shooting. Officers have described him as a 16-year-old Black male, about 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighing 160 pounds, who was last seen wearing black pajama pants.
The victim's identity and age have not been released, and a motive for the shooting remains unknown, per FOX 5 DC. No other details about what led to the shooting or the relationship, if any, between the victim and the person being sought have been made public. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 202-727-9099 or text 50411.
A Mixed Picture On DC Gun Violence
The shooting comes as the District's broader gun violence statistics tell a complicated story. Washington's homicide rate was 41% lower in the first half of 2026 than during the same period in 2025, according to the Council on Criminal Justice. At the same time, the city's reported gun assault rate climbed 13% over that same stretch, reaching 40.4 incidents per 100,000 residents, the council's data shows.
Citywide, the trend over the past two years has leaned toward improvement on the homicide front. The District's overall gun homicide rate fell 37% from 2023 to 2024, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University's Center for Gun Violence Solutions. Even so, the District recorded 148 gun deaths in 2024 based on finalized CDC figures, and young people ages 15 to 34 accounted for 60% of all gun deaths that year, the center reports.
Young Victims Remain Overrepresented
More recent estimates suggest gun deaths have continued at a steady pace. An estimated 106 people in Washington died from gun-related injuries in 2025, with about 87.7% of those deaths classified as homicides, according to USAFacts. That same analysis found the District's gun-death rate ran 15.8% higher than the national rate in 2025, compared with an average of 17.7 gun-related deaths per 100,000 people across U.S. counties.
Nationally, the broader trend has pointed downward. Homicide data from 30 major U.S. cities showed an 18% decline in 2026 compared with the first half of 2025, according to WTOP. Whether this weekend's shooting fits into that pattern or stands apart from it, investigators have not said. For now, police continue to ask the public for help identifying the 16-year-old they believe was involved, urging anyone with information to come forward.
