Two adults were also injured in the shooting, but their injuries were not life-threatening, police said.
No arrests have been made in this case.
Shanita Geathers, 40, said she was standing on the porch of her home that night when people started running and screaming. As others fled, she ran toward the gunfire, searching for her children.
Unbeknownst to Geathers, her children had fled to a neighbor’s house. But as she desperately searched for her children, she saw a little boy who had been shot and wounded lying in a driveway.
“As I’m trying to gather the kids, of course I’m praying that I don’t see people lying on the ground,” Geathers said in an interview the day after the shooting. “This time, that prayer just wasn’t answered.”
Longtime Akron Street residents said the neighborhood has hosted Independence Day festivities for five years and has never seen such violence before. Some neighbors are hosting a free party with games and barbecue, which residents say attracts out-of-towners.
Police previously said at least two people shot another person during the incident. The Prince George’s County Police Department is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to an arrest and indictment.
“I want to be clear: Everyone involved in this shooting will be held accountable for their actions to the fullest extent of the law,” Prince George’s County District Attorney Aisha Braveboy (D) said in a statement after the shooting. “We will take every step possible to ensure that those responsible for this violence face consequences for their actions.”
