Man shot and killed in Washington DC Barbershop

Police said a man was shot and killed in a Southeast Washington D.C. barbershop Wednesday afternoon, police said.

It happened at about 3:30 p.m., according to Metro PD.

Officers on patrol heard gunshots in the area of the 2100 block of Martin Luther King Avenue SE. They ran into a nearby barbershop and found an adult man with gunshot wounds.

The man, in his late teens or early 20s, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Four people were seen running from the barbershop southbound on Martin Luther King Avenue.

Friends at the scene said the young man inside the barber shop killed was trying to turn his life around. His mentor - one of the "Violence Interrupters" that help at-risk youth stay out of trouble - broke down at the scene, crying.

"Why are people so ruthless," she asked, off camera.  "Why did they take him?"

The owner of the barbershop, George Plight, said the victim was his grandson until he was 13-year-old. 

"Good kid," he said. "Got in with the wrong people."

He said the shop was crowded when the shots started flying and people scattered.

ANC commissioner Regina Pixley ran into the victim's mother, yet another woman who will bury a child too early. Pixley said it is up to the community to help heal the streets and stop the violence.

"When black mothers come together and 100 percent - like kids say - 100 percent come together and say no more, enough is a enough," she said.

Police are continuing to investigate. They will need to scour surveillance cameras in the area to track down the four men they said are responsible. Police said they recovered a shot up car from the scene.

Friends said the young man who lost his life in a downtown Anacostia barber shop was trying to turn his life around. 

He was involved in the Violence Interrupters program, designed to help keep young people away from this type of violence.