NEWSLETTERS Receive the latest local updates in your inboxWhat to KnowVivian Marrow was shot in broad daylight Monday in the D.C. neighborhood where she lived for years. The mother and grandmother, who used a wheelchair, was known for giving candy and other treats to children. Police are still seeking the gunman.A 68-year-old woman sitting in a wheelchair died Monday after she was caught in gunfire in her southeast D.C. neighborhood, witnesses and D.C. police said.Vivian Marrow was shot about 10:20 a.m. in the 2400 block of Elvans Road SE, near Suitland Parkway, as she made her daily trip to a neighborhood market.Bull in Wild NYC Chase Dies Hours After CaptureThe mother of three and grandmother of 11 was rushed to a hospital, where she died. Photo credit: Courtesy of family Police initially believed Marrow was caught in crossfire during a gun battle, but interim Police Chief Peter Newsham said Tuesday they now believe there was one shooter."A grown man apparently had some kind of beef or dispute with someone else felt it was appropriate to fire multiple shots in this neighborhood," Newsham said.
Trump Calls JCC Threats 'Horrible' After Clinton CriticismFriends and family wept along the street following Marrow's death."It's really messed up," her son William Marrow said. "I don't know, really, a loss for words, because my mom was a wonderful lady. And she looked out for all my family and cousins."American Unveils Prices, Routes for New Cheapest Fare"It hurts us because this is our aunt, this is our last aunt, and we don't have nobody now that we can go to," her niece Adrienne Nelson said. "It hurts everybody in the family."The victim's son spoke about ongoing violence in the neighborhood.Face Transplant Links Men Touched by Tragedy"I don't get how the young boys get involved in this war, or whatever they call it, and kill somebody innocent like her," William Marrow said.Witnesses said they heard at least a dozens shots.Uber to Investigate Ex-Engineer's Sexual Harassment ClaimA man in his 20s also was shot, police said. He was taken to a hospital and is expected to survive. His role in the shooting is unclear, police said.
Police initially said they were seeking a black man who was armed with a gun and had been wearing a silver jacket, black sunglasses and a black face mask. No one was arrested.Yiannopoulos' Invite to Speak at CPAC Rescinded Over VideoMarrow often used an electric wheelchair to get around her longtime neighborhood after she was hit by a car in the 1980s.She was a fixture in the neighborhood, especially among children.Bill Gates Thinks It May Be Time to Tax Robots"She gave out candy to the kids, soda to the kids, ice cream to the kids," Nelson said. "She was a good person. Anything she had, she'd give it to the kids."D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser issued a statement Monday night about the killing. Texas Neurosurgeon Who Maimed Patients Sentenced to Life in Prison"There is no excuse for this type of violence," Bowser said. "Because someone engaged in reckless gunfire in broad daylight while others were outside trying to live their lives, we now have another family dealing with tragedy and another community rattled by the loss of a beloved neighbor."
ANC Commissioner Mikelle Bassett called for action. Telephone Owned by Adolf Hitler Sells for $243,000"We all need to come together to make something happen because this is unacceptable," she said. "This is an ongoing situation that needs to be stopped."Newsham said at the crime scene as the investigation began that officers had made progress on stopping violence in the area. "We've made a lot of inroads into the crime up in this particular area. There's still some bad actors up here," he said. William Marrow called for the killer to surrender.“Sitting around with the guilt that you did something like that for a period, then eventually you’re going to realize that you did a whole lot to a whole lot of people and someone’s going to say something, so you might as well turn yourself in,” he said.Police and Bowser urged anyone with information on Marrow's murder to call police. "This violence must stop, and the person or people responsible for killing Vivian Marrow must be brought to justice," Bowser said.
Tips to police can be submitted by calling 202-727-9099. To send a tip anonymously, send a text message to 50411. A $25,000 is offered for information leading to an arrest or conviction.Vivian Marrow's family created a GoFundMe page to help fund her funderal.Darlene White was asleep on a couch Monday morning when two gunshots just outside the glass door woke her up. Then she heard four or five more. Next came screams, and then the words she hasn’t stopped hearing in her mind since: “Miss Vivian got shot. Miss Vivian got shot.” Minutes earlier, Vivian Marrow had rolled her red wheelchair just outside the front gate of her decaying apartment complex in the 2400 block of Elvans Road in Southeast Washington. Some neighbors said she was headed to the grocery store. Others said she had just gone out for a smoke. Regardless, at 10:19 a.m., two people exchanged gunfire, and Marrow was struck. The 68-year-old grandmother and mother of three was taken to a hospital, where she died. White said she was later told by witnesses that Marrow had been talking to one of the men involved in the shooting when a rival spotted him and the violence ensued.
Police wouldn’t confirm that version of events. White would not go outside, both because she feared for her life and because she couldn’t bear to see the body of her best friend. “Even now, as we speak, I think it’s a dream,” White said, standing hours later outside the apartment where she helped care for Marrow. “She was too good of a person.” On Monday afternoon, most people in the neighborhood were too distraught to talk about her. Over and over, those who could get any words out used the same ones: “She was a beautiful person.” In a community ravaged by violence — where 10 people have been killed within a one-block radius in the past two years — “Miss Vivian” was a constant source of optimism. She wasn’t slowed by her wheelchair, which she had used since being hit by a car at least a decade ago. Sometimes, she’d park it on the sidewalk and listen to gospel music on her radio, a beacon for anyone who needed someone to talk to. Many of the kids knew as her “The Candy Lady,” because they were always welcome to stop by for cookies or cupcakes.
She had taken in people who didn’t have homes. In the summers, she often cooked hot dogs atop a charcoal grill on the sidewalk in front of her apartment and gave them to anyone who was hungry. “She done fed me,” said Antonio Johnson, who had known her for 20 years. “Somebody who’d give you anything.” Marrow never tried to hide from the despair in her community. She seldom missed a funeral. “She made it her business to be there,” Johnson said, “because of how much she loved people.” Police said they weren’t sure what motivated the gunfight, nor whether Marrow or a man who suffered a gunshot wound that wasn’t life-threatening were involved in it. But neighbors who witnessed the shooting told ANC Commissioner Paul Trantham that both victims were innocent bystanders. “People are being shot in open broad daylight. When can we go outside? When can we walk to the store without fearing for our lives?” said Trantham, one of the commissioners for ANC 8B, where the shooting took place.
On Monday, police initially said they were looking for an armed man wearing a black face mask, sunglasses and a silver jacket. Later, interim police chief Peter Newsham said in a news conference near the shooting site that investigators had received conflicting reports about descriptions of suspects. “We’ve made a lot of inroads into crime in this particular area. There’s still some bad actors here,” Newsham said. “Anybody who’s willing to open up and fire gunshots in our community, we’re not going to tolerate that.” Police did not find a weapon at the scene, Newsham said. Trantham said he went to Elvans Road when he heard about the shooting on Monday, and he talked to residents who complained that the security guards don’t check the IDs of people who come through the housing complex and that the police presence isn’t consistent enough. “That’s what the people on that block were saying today: They’re so angry,” Trantham said. “A couple of them, they said that apartment complex, they wish that they would just shut that apartment complex down because they have so much violence and so much stuff going on over there.
They don’t feel safe.” Before Marrow’s slaying, 25-year-old Samuelle Buie and 19-year-old Rassaan Jennings, were killed Nov. 11 near the same complex. In September, Joe Cook, 35, was fatally shot. The perceived lack of police presence, Trantham says, also deters people from telling investigators what they know about the culprits behind shootings . Trantham said someone told him: “It’s not that we don’t care about our community. But when y’all leave, not only are we subject to retaliation, but our kids are subject to retaliation.” Marrow and White stayed up late Sunday, watching Chuck Norris movies and playing the card game deuces for pennies. As she had so many times before, Marrow predicted she’d whip White in the game. “That’s not going to happen, Vivian,” she recalled saying. On Monday, as the sunlight faded and the evening air cooled, she considered what her nights would be like now, without her friend. “I haven’t grasped it,” White said, turning and pointing inside the apartment window.