The shots rang out on the touristy side of the city, where several bystanders reported hearing a short burst of gunfire, followed by a longer barrage.
Stacey Walters, a nurse who lives in Washington, was heading to the dry cleaners when she heard a pair of gunshots.
Ms. Walters, 43, had been riding in an Uber, she said. Just outside her window, she watched a group of small children being rushed to safety before law enforcement officers approached her car and ordered her driver to turn around.
“I wanted to cry,” she said. “I’ve never been so close to something like that, let alone at the holidays.”
The shooting occurred not far from the Farragut West Metro station, which is just around the corner from Lafayette Square and the White House. Some tourists anxiously asked one another whether any shooter had been apprehended. (The police said that a suspect was in custody by 3 p.m.)
In a part of the city where residents are accustomed to Secret Service members, police officers and motorcades, many seemed unsure of how to navigate the scene, which was crisscrossed with yellow police tape by midafternoon. Dozens of emergency vehicles were amassed at the corner of 17th and I Streets NW.
Several of the people who heard gunshots said that they had traveled to Washington to be with family for Thanksgiving.
“I knew right away it was shooting,” said Tim Moye, 48, who was in the city to visit his son. “I live in Albany, Ga., and we hear that all the time.”
Jamie McGee, 48, was eating lunch outside just blocks away from the shooting. She was with her 20-year-old daughter, Nyla, a student at Howard University. They saw a group of National Guard soldiers rushing past them, they said, just as the sirens began to blare.
Jacey Fortin covers a wide range of subjects for The Times, including extreme weather, court cases and state politics across the country.
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