Family shattered after two brothers killed in Northeast DC shooting

WASHINGTON - A local family is mourning after two brothers were shot and killed in a single incident earlier this week. 

The shooting happened Tuesday in Northeast D.C., just steps away from where the two brothers worked for several years.

The family identified the victims as 28-year-old Octavio Quintano Villanueva of Maryland and 35-year-old Osmine Quintano Villanueva of D.C.

Just about everyone FOX 5 spoke with, even the neighbors who frequent the Peruvian chicken restaurant where the brothers worked, described the two as "lovely."

A close family friend says the older brother, Osmine, lived right above The Pollo Company restaurant at 2314 4th St. NE. The family believes the restaurant closed at 8 p.m. and the brothers were hanging out nearby after, with the younger brother, Octavio, deciding to go back to his Montgomery County home a few hours later.

At some point, his SUV was parked outside the liquor store, located steps away from the chicken restaurant. 

Scene photos and video appear to show the two brothers being shot and killed near where the SUV was parked.

"Everybody’s sad and grieving," said a close family friend, Steve Paniagua. "Everybody’s still in disbelief. Everybody’s sad and shocked and can’t believe this happened. It's very scary too, now. When you go to places, you’ve got to just watch your back. You’ve got to keep an eye out."

Paniagua shared a GoFundMe account created for the brothers as the family is now working to send their bodies back to Honduras, where the victims’ parents live.

Paniagua says it’s the family’s understanding that Octavio and a cousin were about to go home when a woman began banging on his SUV’s window. At some point, he says, three guys then went to the SUV and pulled a cousin out of the truck. FOX 5 was told Octavio got out to help the cousin, and then the cousin ran to alert the older brother. The two brothers were apparently shot after.

D.C. police could not verify this account. They told FOX 5 there was some sort of altercation before the shooting but that it’s all still under investigation. No arrests have been made yet.

Paniagua says Octavio leaves behind a wife and two young kids.  

"He was a very good guy, loved his wife, his kids … We just celebrated his daughter's birthday. She just turned two," he said. "He’s a very nice, humble guy who doesn’t look for trouble. [He] kept to himself … I didn’t know his brother so much but from what I heard, he was a very calm guy too and just came to help his brother out." 

The liquor store has cameras, but the owners told FOX 5 there is no video to view because police took what they had. A city CCTV camera also sits at the corner of 4th St. NE and Bryant St. NE.

The owner of The Pollo Company is also trying to help the family fundraise.

"They’ve been a very great help. Hard-working, honest, smiling, down-to-earth men, and we're really, really so sad about them," said Zergabachew Nuramo. 

Anyone with information is asked to contact police.