D.C. police are investigating reports of shots fired in Franklin Square park during the evening commute. (Victoria Walker,Whitney Leaming/The Washington Post)

D.C. police are investigating reports of shots fired in Franklin Square park during the evening commute. (Victoria Walker,Whitney Leaming/The Washington Post)

D.C. police are investigating the report of gunshots shots being fired in Franklin Square park near a major commuter thoroughfare during the height of Wednesday’s rush hour.

No one was injured, and D.C. police said it appears nothing was struck but the investigation was continuing.

Authorities first received 911 calls reporting the sound of shots fired at 14th and K streets NW about 5:18 p.m., said Officer Hugh Carew, a spokesman. Multiple cruisers responded but by 5:25 p.m. police reported nothing being found.

Several people in the park reported hearing between three and five shots. Issam Philippe, 40, was walking along K Street Northwest when he said he saw a man holding a gun and shooting. The man was standing about midway down the block on a sidewalk along the park and near a parking meter.

“He looked at me and then looked down and held the gun up,” said Philippe, who works for the U.S. Justice Department. “He fired, but it appeared he was firing at random. It didn’t appear he was shooting at anybody. He was just trying to cause chaos.”

Police investigate a shooting Wednesday in Franklin Square. (Aaron C. Davis/The Washington Post)

He said the man ran across K Street and jumped into the passenger seat of what appeared to be a dark-colored Chevrolet Impala. He said the driver sped along the service lane.

People in the park and on the sidewalks scattered, some running into nearby businesses.

Officers from the U.S. Park Police, D.C. police and the U.S. Secret Service swarmed the area and several times jumped into cruisers and sped away from the scene.

Philippe captured the car speeding away on his smartphone; it appears as a quick blur across the screen. He provided the video to police at the scene but declined to provide it to a reporter. Police had yellow crime scene tape near the parking meter and an officer guarded at least two shell casings on K Street.

The investigation threatened to snarl traffic at one of the District’s busiest during the afternoon rush as commuters head south on 14th Street toward the Virginia suburbs and west along K Street.