At about 10:38 p.m., last Thursday, 7D police responded to a report of a shooting at the 4300 block of 4th Street SE. They found two male victims suffering from gunshot wounds. One of the victims was dead at the scene. He was 15 years old Cinquan Tinker. Tinker lived on that block.

Colbert King, this past weekend, stressed an uptick in juvenile crime. The previous week, another 15 year old was killed.

King wrote:

“While in Washington, here’s hoping the new president and first lady visit our public schools so they can see what the first daughters are missing — and drop by our courts to witness a generation of D.C. youths being recycled through the criminal justice system.

They are getting arrested at a mad clip: more than 3,122 this year, up 8 percent over 2007.

[D.C. Police Department Chief Cathy] Lanier told me in a phone interview this week that the number of youth arrests is even higher if cases in which youths are charged as adults are included. And, she added, juvenile arrest figures don’t include youths who commit minor offenses and are diverted to a special program that keeps them out of the juvenile justice system. Thus far in 2008, more than 800 have entered the diversion program, Lanier said.”