Police said two teens found an illegal handgun before one shot was fired.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A 15-year-old girl was killed Saturday evening after an unsecured handgun discharged inside a Southeast Washington apartment, police said, leaving detectives to examine how the weapon was left where two teens could reach it.
The shooting happened in the Washington Highlands neighborhood and drew a large police response to the 900 block of Barnaby Street SE. Metropolitan Police Department officials said the early evidence points to an accidental shooting, but the case remained under investigation Saturday night as detectives interviewed witnesses and consulted prosecutors.
Officers were called to the apartment building shortly before 7 p.m. Saturday for a report of a shooting. When they arrived, they found the girl with a gunshot wound. Police said officers and emergency workers tried life-saving measures, but the girl died at the scene. Interim Police Chief Jeffery W. Carroll said investigators believe the victim and another 15-year-old girl were alone in the apartment when they found the firearm.
Carroll said one of the girls picked up the handgun and manipulated it before it fired, striking the other girl. He said the teen who had handled the gun then went to a nearby apartment to get help, and someone called 911. Police said the girls were friends and did not live in the apartment. One of the teens was described as a family friend of the person who lived there.
Police said the handgun was illegal, unsecured and not legally registered. The apartment’s occupant, described by Carroll as a family friend of one of the girls, was arrested on firearms-related charges. Authorities had not publicly released the names of the girl who died, the teen who handled the gun or the arrested adult by late Saturday. Police also had not announced the exact charges tied to the arrest.
“The firearm that was inside a location was not secured, as the young people were able to access it,” Carroll said during a briefing near the scene. He said investigators believe one shot was fired. The other teen had not been charged as of Saturday night and was being interviewed by detectives. Carroll said she was “very upset” as police worked to sort through what happened inside the apartment.
The shooting added another child death to a city already facing repeated cases involving juveniles and guns. Police have said illegal firearms remain a major focus for officers across the District, including in Southeast Washington. The Barnaby Street block is in Washington Highlands, a residential area near the Maryland line where apartment complexes and rowhouses sit close to busy corridors such as South Capitol Street and Southern Avenue.
Detectives were processing evidence late Saturday and working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the District of Columbia Office of the Attorney General, Carroll said. Those offices could help decide whether more charges are filed and who may face them. Police said the investigation was still in its early stages, and officials did not say when the medical examiner would make a formal ruling in the girl’s death.
A heavy police presence remained around Barnaby Street after dark as officers blocked off parts of the area and investigators moved in and out of the building. Carroll called the shooting devastating for both families involved. “Obviously, anyone that has a firearm, it should always be secured,” he said. “It should be legally registered.”
The case remained active Sunday, June 7, with detectives still reviewing evidence, witness accounts and the gun’s ownership. Police said preliminary findings point to an accidental discharge, but final decisions on charges and case status had not been announced.
Author note: Last updated June 7, 2026.