Recent NoMa-Area Shootings Weren’t Random, Police Say

Two shootings that happened in the NoMa area this week weren’t random attacks, police said last night.

The shootings in the Flats 140 apartment building and on the 900 block of 3rd Street NE Sunday weren’t the work of individuals who indiscriminately assaulted people in the neighborhood, Metropolitan Police Department commanders told about two dozen locals at a community meeting.

“We know there’s more to it,” Commander Jeff Brown of the First District said of the apartment shooting, which injured a man.

As for the 3rd Street NE shooting, which killed 36-year-old Timothy Bing of Northeast D.C., Brown said the victim was targeted.

“Someone wasn’t walking down the street and saying, ‘Hey, let’s shoot this guy,'” Brown said.

People who live in a house on 3rd Street NE likely have “a lot of information” to assist the police in their investigation of the homicide, Brown said. But he said authorities don’t have “any concrete leads” on a suspect in the shooting.

In the Flats 140 shooting at 140 M St. NE, the victim appeared to be involved in activities that caused the attack, said Commander William Fitzgerald of the Fifth District.

“I don’t want everyone to be afraid to return home each night thinking there’s an armed burglar roaming the neighborhood,” he said.

After the shootings, MPD increased patrols in the NoMa area, the commanders said.

Violent crime is up this year within the boundaries of ANC 6C, which represents parts of NoMa and Near Northeast, including the blocks where the two shootings occurred, according to D.C. crime statistics.

From Jan. 1 to July 15, 76 violent crimes were reported within the boundaries of ANC 6C. During the same period the previous year, 63 of the crimes were reported.