Boy, 15, killed and many injured in mass shooting at Washington music festival

20 June 2022, 10:14

Several were injured and one teenager killed after a mass shooting near a Juneteenth event less than two miles from the White House yesterday, according to local media outlets.

The shooting in the US capital took place as Washington's Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) were attempting to break up an 'unauthorised' music concert event, known as "Moechella", which was being held in celebration of Juneteenth, a recently legislated national holiday which celebrates the emancipation of African Americans from slavery.

Videos and photos posted to social media showed revellers fleeing the area, and emergency services on the scene.

The MPD said: "One juvenile, it appears, is dead. Two adults and one police officer are injured. They are recovering."

Police Chief Robert J. Contee III said in a press conference that a 15-year-old was shot dead, but did not reveal if the police had a suspect or anyone in custody for the shooting, and appeared to apportion some of the blame on the event organisers.

He said: “This is one of the reasons we don’t want unpermitted events taking place in our city.

“Unfortunately, things like this can happen when you have the wrong mix of people, or people who introduce firearms into a situation.”

"When you have large gatherings in a dense area, it only takes one person with a firearm to make this a dangerous setting," the Chief added.

Read more: US could see first significant gun law in decades after Texas massacre

Washington DC's Mayor Muriel Bowser said in a public statement of the multiple shooting: "We have a child that was killed at an event that didn’t have proper planning, with people with guns involved.

"Even with police managing crowds on-site, someone used a gun and now a child is dead.

"We need some accountability here."

The event Moechella was a free music festival, and described by organisers as an 'Advocacy Festival Amplifying the Culture of Washington DC'.

Organiser Justin 'Yaddiya' Johnson has yet to comment on the shootings.

This comes after a spate of mass shootings across the US, including an elementary school in Texas, where 19 children were killed on 24 May.

This prompted President Joe Biden to advocate for a ban on assault weapons, or increase the age limit to purchase from 18 to 21.

He said in a statement earlier in the month: "We need to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.  And if we can’t ban assault weapons, then we should raise the age to purchase them from 18 to 21. Strengthen background checks."

The National Rifle Association (NRA), has long rejected the notion of controls on guns, and spent $1.6 million lobbying senators and congresspeople against enhanced background checks in the first half of 2019.

The NRA argue that enhanced background checks or gun controls go against the US' controversial Second Amendment, which permits the 'right to bear arms' in a 'well-regulated militia'.