Outrage in D.C. over ‘heinous’ murder of 1-year-old Carmelo Duncan

An alarming surge of gun violence in the nation’s capital has claimed the life of a 1-year-old “angel” who was shot to death inside his family’s car this week.

Carmelo Duncan was riding with his father and older brother Wednesday night when a shooter opened fire into the vehicle in a Southeast neighborhood of Washington, D.C., authorities said. The toddler was taken to a hospital but did not survive.

The shooter remains at large and there’s still no description of a suspect.

“There are no words for the sense of loss that our city will feel when they hear of this heartbreaking tragedy,” Mayor Muriel Bowser said in a statement.

Carmelo Duncan

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the angel we lost, his loved ones, and those who know the agony of this terrible loss,” she wrote.

Bowser also urged anyone with information about this “heinous crime” to contact authorities immediately.

A $60,000 reward is being offered for information leading up to an arrest and conviction in the case. The Metropolitan Police Department, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives have contributed to the reward and are all working on the investigation.

The child’s father and 8-year-old brother were not injured in the shooting.

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Carmelo is the youngest victim to be fatally shot this year in D.C., which has seen its highest number of homicides in 15 years, according to The Washington Post.

“We cannot tolerate senseless gun violence, and we must continue to come together to have the tough conversation about what we must to do to eradicate it,” Bowser said.

Police Chief Peter Newsham called it “the most tragic news” during a news conference Wednesday. He told reporters that investigators believe the shots came from another moving vehicle, a dark gray SUV that was seen driving in the area at the time of the incident.

“This can’t happen in our city,” he tweeted on Thursday along with a plea for help from the public.