Police identified the men as Jobe McDowney, 23, of Southeast, and Desimon Richardson, 21, of Temple Hills, Md. The Nash Street address does not appear in available public records for either victim.

The shootings about 8:15 p.m. on a warm spring night alarmed the area’s chair of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission, Antawan Holmes, who said Nash Street has been a particular concern for residents who have complained about drug dealing, prostitution and vehicles from Maryland and Virginia frequenting the area.

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“A lot of people pass through that spot,” said Holmes, who vowed to take concerns to D.C. police. Of crime in that area, he said, “We want to make sure it’s stamped out immediately.”

Richardson’s relatives could not be reached for comment. McDowney’s mother, Carole Mc­Downey, works for the D.C. government. When reached by phone on Friday, she said, “Tell me who killed my son.”

In a brief interview, Mc­Downey said she knew nothing of the circumstances of the shooting. She did confirm her Facebook page and that her son had celebrated his birthday last month. In one social media posting, McDowney wrote, “They really don’t know what they did to me when they took your life I love you so much Jobe and missing you is what I’m waking up to daily.”

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In a birthday post on Facebook, McDowney wrote to her son, “Loving you is easier than breathing.”

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Police said they responded to the apartment building, steps from the baseball diamond at the Deanwood Recreation Center, for a call of shots fired. In a statement, police said officers found both victims inside a stairwell and pronounced them dead. A police spokesman said officers recovered a gun at the scene and were investigating to whom it belonged and whether it was used in the shootings.

Police said a third victim was found about a half-mile away in the 900 block of 44th Street NE, in a car that had crashed. Police said that man had been shot in the leg and was taken to a hospital for treatment. His name was not released.

The two fatal shootings and an unrelated fatal stabbing that occurred early Friday in Southeast Washington brought the number of D.C. homicide victims this year to 43. That is a 30 percent increase from the same period last year.

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The Thursday shooting brought to the scene D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham and Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), who have talked repeatedly about gun violence and what statistics show is an increased lethality in shootings that authorities say is behind the 2018 spike in killings. Homicides spiked about 40 percent in 2018 compared with 2017.