US: At least three killed in Washington DC shooting on Saturday amid rising cases of homicides

The shooting occurred about two blocks from the busy intersection of 18th Street and Columbia Road NW at around 1:00 a.m. local time, Pamela Smith, acting police chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, told local media.

"Another act of senseless violence has occurred in this area where two individuals have lost their lives and another has been transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries," said Smith.

According to a CBS News report quoting Smith later, the officers responded to find two men and a woman dead at the scene.

They were not immediately identified, Smith said.

Two other wounded men were transported to local hospitals in unknown condition, the report said.

According to a Washington Post report, the latest killings follow a "barrage of homicides that have left at least a dozen people dead in the first five days of August."

The city has now recorded more than 150 homicides so far this year, putting it on track for the largest number of killings in more than two decades and raising concerns about what is happening in the District this summer," the report said.