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Local Crime & Public Safety

A 3-year-old is shot to death, and D.C. reels again: ‘Everyone loved her’

Ty’ah Settles was riding in a car that got caught in the crossfire of a gun battle, police said. She was the city’s youngest homicide victim this year.

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May 4, 2024 at 7:21 p.m. EDT
Ty’ah Settles, 3, was shot and killed Friday in the 2300 block of Hartford Street SE. (Family photo)
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She loved french fries, and pizza with “everything on it.” Ty’ah Settles covered the walls of her family’s apartment in Southeast Washington with colorful doodles. She was looking forward to starting day care in August.

On Friday night, D.C. police said, Ty’ah was riding in an SUV that went through a gun battle near her home. The cheerful, chatty 3-year-old, the daughter her mother had always wanted and called her “twin,” was killed by a stray bullet.