WASHINGTON (AP) — Five people were shot early Thursday in a trendy Washington, D.C., neighborhood just steps from the White House, said police, who were responding to several locations. At least one of those shootings took place in a gymnasium and apparently resulted in fatalities, a witness said.
A suspect in the shooting was barricaded near the scene of the initial shooting, Washington Metropolitan Police said. Law enforcement SWAT teams could be seen operating on a high floor of a nearby building.
The shootings were reported in Logan Circle, about a mile north of the White House. Police urged people to avoid the area in the 1500 block of 15th Street, which includes a VIDA fitness center, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and residences and is around the corner from a Whole Foods supermarket. A large part of the neighborhood was cordoned off. Schools near the scene were closed.
Local and federal law enforcement are responding to reports of an active shooting Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)
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James Spellman was at the gym shortly after 8 a.m. when he heard gunshots. He said there were about 50 people in the gym at the time.
“Within seconds, a man fell to the ground and a pool of blood came out,” he said. “A gym member rushed to help him. He died instantly. He had been shot in the neck.”
Spellman said he and other gym members ran out of the gym and heard more gunshots in the 15th Street area. He said he heard about two shots fired inside the gymnasium and about five or six shots fired outside.
Streets around the area were also blocked during a massive police intervention. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said it sent agents to the scene to assist. And the FBI said its Washington field office was assisting local police in their investigation.
Local law enforcement is responding to reports of an active investigation into a shooting Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
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Witness Ryan Dubicki was in his nearby apartment around 8 a.m. when, he said, he “heard about five bangs.”
“They were really scattered, so I thought it was construction work,” he said. It wasn’t until a short time later that he looked outside “and there were cops everywhere.”
Her building managers sent out a notice that there was a possible active shooter.
The neighborhood has already witnessed violence. In early August 2025, a former member of President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Effectiveness was attacked early Sunday morning in the Logan Circle area by a group of teenagers who were trying to carjack him and a woman, authorities said.
Days later, Trump made good on his threat to bypass local authorities and imposed direct federal control over the city. send hundreds of members of the National Guard to reduce crime. This deployment continues today.
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