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Three suspects are at large after a triple shooting Thursday morning at a Washington, D.C., train station — the second shooting on the busy rail system in less than 24 hours, officials said.
The latest incident unfolded about 9 a.m. at the Benning Road station, which is on the Silver and Blue Lines of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority system, police said.
One of the suspects opened fire after the trio, all thought to be juveniles, got into a fight with a 15-year-old boy, Metropoiltan Police Cmdr. Darnel Robinson said.
The teen, who was hit in the thigh, had life-threatening injuries, according to NBC Washington. Two bystanders sitting on a nearby bench — another 15-year-old boy and a 34-year-old woman — are expected to survive their injuries, according to transit police.
The suspects fled, transit police said. Descriptions were not immediately available.
The authority alerted riders to service disruption at the station at 9:13 a.m. EST.
This latest incident comes after an off-duty FBI agent fatally shot a person following a dispute inside the bustling downtown Metro Center station early Wednesday evening.
The agent got into an altercation with another person on the train platform just after 6:20 p.m., said Ashan Benedict, the executive assistant chief of police for the Metropolitan Police Department.
During the argument, one of the individuals grabbed the other and they both fell down an 8-foot drop over a side wall, located away from the train tracks at the end of the platform, and continued to struggle, police said.
After they fell over that barrier, the fight continued before gunfire erupted, Benedict said.
Regular Blue Line rider Leah Jackson Barreto, who hitched a ride to work Thursday morning with her father, was around the corner from the Benning Street station when she spotted responding police cruises racing by their car.
The 23-year-old office manager works a block away the Metro Center station, the scene of Wednesday night’s fatal shooting.
“I am a bit uneasy about going on to the train this evening when I have to go back home,” Barreto said.
“There are a few of my co-workers that just missed the incident yesterday and the office is pretty empty today. I’m pretty sure that’s because of all these incidents.”
Marlene Lenthang and Matteo Moschella contributed.
