At some point on Friday, Graham had heard from media sources that Black had been mentioned as a suspect. Graham tells City Desk that he tried to verify this with D.C. Police officials.

"I said 'hey is there any truth to this?' I was assured that there wasn't," Graham says. "He may have been somebody who's name was mentioned, but that was just all talk. Just all talk."

But Graham did confront Black. He called him into his office and questioned him about the shooting incident in which two adults were shot in the leg outside the Columbia Heights metro stop Thursday afternoon. In the shootings immediate aftermath, Graham had been on the scene talking to residents and police. That day Black attended the summer jobs program orientation at the convention center. Graham had told reporters about the incident at the convention center that involved police seizing the revolver and brass knuckles.

Graham says he asked Black about the shooting and whether he was involved. "I had previously asked him if he had done it," he says. "He had an alibi....I didn't know whether to believe him or not believe him. I felt that he knew more about it than what he was saying. He might have been on the scene."

Graham says that a staffer in his office had known Black since he was a child. Black, who has a young boy of his own, started intern work this past Monday—a week early. He worked Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday, he was out. On Thursday, Black attended the orientation. He worked a full shift on Friday.

"I had various conversations with him," Graham says. "I thought he was very intelligent, thoughtful."

After yesterday's press conference on gang violence held in front of the Columbia Heights metro, Graham found out that Black had emerged as the main police suspect. Assistant Chief Alfred Durham called him to break the news.

"Was I upset yesterday that somebody left my office and shot two people? Yeah...That's pretty upsetting," Graham says.

Black had already left Graham's office for the day. Graham says he called the young intern's cellphone. He encouraged him to turn himself in. Black accepted Graham's offer to drive him to the Third District.

Black did not apologize. "He was obviously very upset," Graham says.

"The car ride was largely in silence," Graham says. "[Black] said he knew exactly what to do. The conversation was all about you are definitely doing the right thing. I tried to be sensitive. I don't remember any specific conversation."

Graham walked Black inside the Third District. Detectives were waiting. They padded down Black and then took him away. Graham was then interviewed by officers for a half hour.

"He's entitled to his day in court," Graham says of his former employee. "You can't talk as if he's been convicted. He hasn't been convicted. He's been charged with a crime. I'm not defending him. I'm just saying that when I spoke to him—I wasn't convinced that he was guilty."

Graham isn't sure if he wouldn't rehire Black. "I haven't thought of it yet," he says. "I'm still dealing with the other issues. I have to be ready to give people an opportunity. I've created 70 permanent jobs in DPW for returning ex-offendes and I have done so because people need second and third and sometimes many chances."

Graham continues: "What are we going to do? These people are going to be abandoned? I'm very very sorry that violence came out of my office...I think I did the right thing by going to get him. I think I did all the right things. We don't do background checks on summer interns even if we did the whole point of the program is to give people opportunities. I've hired gang members before....And we've had good experiences to tell you the truth."

Jason Cherkis is on the scene for the press conference announced after yesterday's shooting at the Columbia Heights Metro.

3:37 Press conference hasn't started, but there's a band of protesters already across Irving Street. They're protesting the gang injunction. Roughly 10 of them, waving signs with a bullhorn. Protesters are changing, "Intervention, not injunction," and "Prosecute criminals, not innocent people." Press conference is 10 minutes late.

However, the fight at the convention center that yesterday Councilmember Jim Graham said was related to the shooting appears to be unrelated to this one.

Assistant Police Chief Alfred Durham tells Cherkis both kids were arrested at the convention center—the ones with the revolver and the brass knuckles. Police spokesperson Traci Hughes says incident at the convention center is unrelated to the shooting yesterday afternoon.

Durham stated at the press conference that all involved were adults and that police had zeroed in on a possible suspect. He said that he expected an arrest warrant for the shooter to be issued by this afternoon.

UPDATE 3:43

Cherkis caught up with Attorney General Peter Nickles. He asked Nickles if if the proposed civil gang injunctions would have prevented yesterday's shooting.

"I'm not going to speculate on what happened yesterday," said Nickles. "The investigation is still ongoing."

"Then why are you here?" Cherkis asked Nickles. Nickles refused to answer.

UPDATE 3:48

Cherkis asked Graham if he thought civil gang injunctions would have prevented yesterday's shooting. "You know that specific event? No, I don't think so," Graham said. But he did say "There's no question" that the incident involved gangs.

Cherkis asked Graham why he thought the council rejected the gang injunctions.

"One mentions racial profiling, and the whole thing jumps the track," said Graham. "I think there was a lot of hyperbole...maybe more than a little bit of politics."

Would, in Graham's opinion, there be buy-in from rank-and-file cops on the gang injunctions?

"I don't know."

UPDATE 3:59

Protesters have just moved across street. Fenty is starting to speak. He is joined by three white councilmembers–Catania, Evans, and Graham. [Although expected to make an appearance, Councilmember Bowser failed to show up]. Protesters are surrounding Fenty holding up signs about abuse of power.

Suddenly, the protesters go silent and just let Fenty squint into the sun and give his talking points (none of it worthy of actually quoting). He says that Columbia Heights and other neighborhoods have seen far too many shootings. He then rattles off a list of how much he's spent or how much time he's devoted to non-criminal justice arenas: education, "state of the art" rec facilities, the closing down of Oak Hill, and the opening of New Beginnings. He says that those interventions haven't worked or at least reached gang members.

Nickles then gets his turn at the podium. The pitbull AG sounds more like a kitten imploring the passage of the gang injunctions "for 90 days." He insists that the injunctions would not focus on drug corners or loiterers. The injunctions would only go after the hardcore criminals. The law needs to be enacted he says "before the summer." Isn't it already summer? Kids are out of school. And that was Nickles sweating in front of that bank of cameras.

I asked Nickles earlier if civil fines would really work against gang members. I noted that perhaps enforcing the fines just would not work considering that studies have shown that gangs members do not make all that much money. (See Freakonomics and Gang Leader For A Day). Nickles insisted that the fines would be aimed at the kingpins.

Graham offered defiance: "We are not going to lose this fight." And later states: "We have a major gang problem in this city...We need intelligence. We need intervention." And still later: "But I need this new message, this tough new message."

Evans sounded a desperate tone: "I need the community's support." He encouraged constitutes to lobby the more skeptical members of the city council. He played up his experience (19 years on the council!). And Evans insists he is down with the Peaceoholics. He also played up his own liberal credentials–offering that he is a member of the ACLU.

"If you don't like my idea what's your idea?" Evans asked rhetorically. Mendelson's ideas were clear. Evans chose not to vote for what was in Mendo's emergency bill which included plenty of crime fighting tools.

Catania then admitted that this gang injunction tool was not a "silver bullet." Oops. "Hand wringing is not a solution," the councilmember stated.

If Fenty and Co. tried their best to capitalize on yesterday's leg shootings with more fear speeches, Assistant Chief Durham wasn't interested in playing along.

Violent crime is actually down citywide by 4 percent and that homicides are down 17 percent from last year, Durham said.

After the press conference, Evans tried to convince Gary Imhoff that he would totally accept the gang injunction if you took out the racial angle. Instead of thinking about D.C. gangs, Evans advised, think about West Side Story. If only we thought about sharks and jets!

Imhoff did not look convinced.

Evans then pleaded that the city should be allowed to just try the gang injunctions for the proposed 90 days. Just 90 days.

As a card-caring member of the ACLU, Evans should know that the organization has already consented to a number of police tools in place like stay-away orders and nuisance property laws.

Before the press conference, Catania tried to make a weird personal argument: "I have friends who live here and there"–the councilmember then pointed to two new condo buildings on 14th–"and they can't sell because of the [crime]."

Photograph from yesterday's crime scene by Darrow Montgomery

The reason as stated in the press advisory is not a shocker. Fenty and Co. plan on using yesterday's shooting to press for the controversial gang injunctions. According to the advisory: "The Fenty Administration and members of the D.C. Council will address the recent gun violence in Columbia Heights, and push for emergency enactment of a gang injunction."

Fenty will be on hand along with AG Peter Nickles, Assistant Chief Diane Groomes, and Councilmembers Jack Evans, David Catania, Muriel Bowser, and Jim Graham.

The grandstanding and/or Grahamstanding ought to reach epic levels.

*The reason that police have closed off 14th Street is that one of the victims of the shooting fled across the street from the Metro stop, leaving blood and other key items of evidence in the trail. Police are harvesting that evidence and will reopen the street later.

*The two people who were shot both appear to be adult males.

*Police do not yet have a firm description of the shooter, in part because there were so many people in the area at the time of the shooting—video surveillance will be culled to see if the perp can be spotted on film.

Quotidian rhythms are being restored to this patch of D.C. concrete pretty quickly: Five Guys is pulsing right now with burger eaters. There were at least eight people in the hamburger joint while the police were scanning the area for bullet fragments. They did not seem all that interested in the goings on behind the police tape. Most were content to just eat.

"We hope to get 14th Street open pretty quickly," Newsham says.