Gun violence is now the leading cause of death for children and adolescents in the United States according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
On Monday, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser declared two public emergencies — one on the opioid crisis, the other on juvenile crime.
According to the city, 99 juveniles were shot, 16 fatally, between Jan. 1 and Nov. 8 of this year. That's up from 94, 15 fatally, from the same period in 2022.
For the families of those lost and the thousands more who are shot and survive, the News4 I-Team found the impact from firearms injuries is more than just physical.
It’s a crisis that’s spiked in the nation’s capital – with close to 100 juveniles shot this year. Seventeen-year-old Kanihya Glover, a student at Duke Ellington School of the Arts, has felt the impact of young lives lost.
"I was actually in sixth grade when that happened. I get to my grandmother's house and I saw it is on the news,” she told the I-Team. "And it says this teen killed in triple shooting."
The victim on the news was her cousin, Damoni Gaither.
He became the first of three people she would lose to D.C. gun violence in the ensuing the 5½ years.
"I kind of felt guilty that I was going to move on with my life,” said Kanihya, now 17. “By having fun, I was selfish in a sense. I'm going outside, smiling, having fun. Meanwhile, I just had like, this, like, traumatic loss in my life.”
And not just for her. She could also see the grief and dread and depression spread.
“People who lose a family member or friend, they're also gun violence victims in that sense,” she said.
There’s new evidence to prove that. Doctors now believe when kids are shot, it affects families of victims – even if they survive – in measurable and devastating ways. "Firearm injuries ripple through families and communities with important clinical effects. Even for those who did not sustain the firearm injury themselves. This includes mothers, fathers and siblings," explained Dr. Zirui Song with Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital.
According to his just-published research, children and adolescents who survived their firearm injuries experienced a 68% increase in psychiatric disorders within the first year following their gunshot injuries. Moms and dads experienced a 30% increase in mental health disorders and at least a 15% increase in substance use disorders. Young survivors, according to Song, experienced a 114% increase in substance use disorders.
"The impact of a death in the family due to firearms was manifold larger,” he said.
When children die of their gunshot wounds, mental health and substance use percentages skyrocket for parents and siblings of those who died as well, according to his research.
"Indeed, and not only for these children, but also for their families, their moms and dads and siblings also sustained important and large increases in mental health disorders,” Song said.
Few people in D.C. see the carnage of gunshot injuries more than Children's National Hospital surgeon Dr. Mikael Petrosyan.
"I am angry about it, because it's just devastating,” he said. “I mean, I don't want to be in this situation.”
There are days after troubling shifts operating on yet another victim, Petrosyan said he screams out loud in his backyard, wishing it was over. He's also found it's not just worsening health effects. His said research shows gunshot survivors are more likely to come back to the hospital.
“Thirty percent of those kids who get injured come back, the same gunshot wounds,” he said. “Or they are becoming the perpetrator. So, they are the ones who are involved, not just victims.”
He and his team are doing what they can.
“We need to do something,” Petrosyan said.
But he said it's not a problem hospitals can solve.
"You might want to ask the guys across the street. You can see the Capitol building,” he said. “But the bottom line is I see these kids routinely and it devastates not only families and the child him or herself, but also physicians. We didn't go into the business of treating kids for gunshot wounds.”
He said what he sees now is just unimaginable.
If politicians won't act, doctors need to, Song said.
"Evidence like this can motivate physicians, nurses and other health care providers to ask about the well-being of brothers, sisters and parents,” he said. “It can motivate clinicians to ask about firearm safety at home: Whether there is a gun. Is the gun safely stored? Is it locked? Is it loaded?”
Kanihya Glover got so sick of the violence, she said a high school art project led her to start her nonprofit Broken Concrete DC, determined to make sure we know the stories of our neighbors’ kids who are falling through the cracks.
“The trauma will carry on throughout your entire life, no matter how old you are,” Glover said. “You never recover from this. Grief does not have an expiration date."
Reported by Ted Oberg, reported by Rick Yarborough, shot by Steve Jones and Jeff Piper, and edited by Steve Jones.
