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What is Moechella? 15-year-old killed, 3 others injured in DC music festival shooting

The event's name combines the slang term for a friend, 'moe' and the name of Coachella music festival

Gunfire broke out on Sunday night, June 19, at an unlicensed music event in  Washington, DC. A 15-year-old boy was killed and three people, including a police officer, were injured at the annual Moechella concert celebrating Juneteenth, according to the authorities.

The Metropolitan Police Department decided to cancel Moechella, a free street festival that took place close to the historically significant crossroads of 14th and U Streets Northwest in the city, after encountering violence earlier in the evening that included a fight among spectators. Chief Robert J Contee III of the Metropolitan Police Department stated at a news conference late Sunday that "several individuals were shot", while police and emergency personnel cleared the area to treat people who were hurt while escaping the disturbance.

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According to chief Contee, the other two adults' conditions was stable, and the officer who was shot is expected to make a full recovery. He omitted to mention whether there was/were a suspect in custody. Late Sunday, the specifics of the shooting were still unknown, but he said that no police officers fired their firearms.

Contee stated that those who held events without a permit will be held accountable. "This is one of the reasons we don't want unpermitted events taking place in our city," he stated. "Unfortunately, things like this can happen when you have the wrong mix of people, or people who introduce firearms into a situation."

The police chief was upset by the vast volume of illegal firearms in the region and mentioned that police officers had found numerous similar weapons. "Illegal firearms in the hands of people who should not have them make events like this unsafe for people who just want to enjoy the beautiful weather, who want to enjoy Father's Day, who want to enjoy our city."

The festival, that The Washington City Paper called "a free, go-go band-led event full of Black cultural spirit and anti-gentrification passion", was canceled after the shooting. The event's name, according to the newspaper, combines the slang term for a friend, "moe," and the name of Coachella music festival.

This incident took place in the wake of many high-profile shooting deaths in the US, including two massacres in May, one at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, which claimed the lives of 19 children and two instructors, and another earlier this month, where two men got into a fight in Philadelphia. They started shooting recklessly at each other while standing in the middle of a busy Philadelphia street. Three individuals died and 12 others had been hurt by the time the shooting subsided.