In the early hours of a Saturday morning in Washington, D.C., the life of 36-year-old Saul Flores-Canales was cut short in an act of violence that also claimed the life of another man. On October 15, 2016, at approximately 2:15 a.m., the sounds of gunfire pierced the night in the Petworth neighborhood.
Metropolitan Police Department officers responded to the 600 block of Kennedy Street, Northwest, where they discovered two men suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
One of the victims was Saul Flores-Canales, a Hispanic male. Emergency medical personnel pronounced him dead at the scene.
The second victim, 31-year-old Ever Cruz, was transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries. He succumbed to his injuries the following Sunday. The incident was investigated as a double homicide.
In the days and weeks that followed, the Metropolitan Police Department sought leads and asked for the public's assistance in gathering information about the shooting. Despite their investigative efforts, no information regarding any suspects was publicly released in the immediate aftermath of the incident. The case was one of many homicides in the District that year, leaving a family to mourn and a community searching for answers that have remained elusive. As of late 2025, there have been no publicly available reports detailing any arrests or the identification of any suspects in the killing of Saul Flores-Canales and Ever Cruz.
