They tumbled to the sidewalk or ran for cover, scraping and kicking fruitlessly at the locked front door of an apartment building amid a spray of gunfire from two cars speeding down North Capitol Street early Monday.
The backdrop was Tyler House, a subsidized-apartment building where violence has visited all too frequently for residents and police. As crime drops across the District and an adjacent neighborhood enjoys a burst of redevelopment, Tyler House remains a stubborn remnant of the area’s history of violence.
In the end, 13 people were hit in the drive-by shooting Monday, nearly all of them grazed or struck in their arms or legs. One victim took a bullet to the lower back and was described as being in critical condition.
Police said they had few answers to explain the shooting: no motive, no arrests, no information about a gun. Mostly, they and other city officials struggled to assure the public that a quickly gentrifying corner of the city is safe.
