WASHINGTON -- One person was killed and five others were injured, including two children, after gunmen opened fire into a crowd in northeast Washington DC on Wednesday, Metropolitan Police Department said.

The shooting occurred shortly after 6 pm Eastern Standard Time (2200 GMT) in the Carver Langston neighborhood in the US capital, Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith told a press conference Wednesday evening.

Preliminary information indicated that the suspects exited a vehicle and "began shooting into the crowd" outside a residential area, she said.

Two men, one woman, a nine-year-old boy, and a 12-year-old boy were transferred to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, she added.