2 children, 6 and 9 years old, shot coming home from school on DC Metrobus, police say

WASHINGTON (WJLA) — A 9-year-old and a 6-year-old were shot getting off a Metrobus in northwest Washington, D.C. Wednesday afternoon on their way home from school, police said.

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Department told WJLA that both children are conscious and breathing. MTPD said the children and an adult male who was also shot were taken to an area hospital and are expected to recover.

The shooting started as an altercation when several people got on the bus and started to assault a person, according to police.

The fight moved to the street and one person started shooting, hitting two children and an adult. The intended target of the shooting was not hit, MPD added.

During the commotion, police say the children got back onto the bus and the Metro operator drove the bus a few blocks away.

All of my concern is with a 6-year-old and a 9-year-old and all they were doing was coming home from school," D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said. "And an idiot with a gunshot it, indiscriminately, and shot two children."

D.C. resident Jacquie Morrison said she couldn't just walk past the scene.

"It's gotten worse. People are hurting, people are hopeless, and people are just tired -- and they're acting out," she said.

This scene is not far from Georgia Avenue NW where a man was killed and three others were injured, including an 8-year-old child, on Jan. 3

"You will always hear me talk about accountability when it comes to people who commit reckless acts in our community," MPD Chief Robert Contee said. "This is unacceptable.”

Still, Morrison said the words are not enough.

Nothing against the police chief, but it seemed like a rolling script. How many of those speeches have been the same? It's almost like you can just cut it out on a card. Until you get to the heart and the morals of people, of adults, nothing's going to change," she said.

Police are now searching for a male shooting suspect, along with the others that came on the bus and assaulted a passenger.