DC officials investigate after 9 shot, 4 dead

[March 31, 2010]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- A fourth person has died after being hit when a gunman sprayed bullets from a moving vehicle into a crowd in the nation's capital, police said Wednesday.

Three suspects have been arrested in the drive-by shooting Tuesday that injured five others, but investigators said the motive wasn't clear.

Six men and three women were hit by the gunfire around 7:30 p.m. in the southeastern part of the city, said D.C. Police Department spokesman Officer Hugh Carew. Fire Department spokesman Pete Piringer says all were in their 20s and 30s, except for one teenager.

Police spokeswoman Gwendolyn Crump said Wednesday the fourth victim had died.

Three people were arrested and a weapon was recovered. The Washington Post reported that police pursued a van from the scene, aided by a helicopter.

Four D.C. officers were slightly injured while chasing a suspect's vehicle into neighboring Prince George's County in Maryland, authorities said.

The shootings were in a neighborhood near a water treatment plant and Bolling Air Force Base. Sections of southeastern D.C. have problems with crime, but residents told local media they were surprised by the violence and didn't consider the neighborhood dangerous.

Washington reported 143 homicides last year, the fewest in nearly 50 years.

[Associated Press]

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