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       Antonio Cunningham started working at Jersey Mike’s Subs in Northeast Washington over the summer, building sandwiches and earning the first real paycheck of his young life.

       On Monday afternoon, the 17-year-old’s family said, the high school junior finished classes and took the Metro to the station in Northeast Washington’s Brentwood neighborhood.

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       From there, it should have been a two-minute walk to the sub shop on the ground floor of the Rhode Island Row apartment complex, in a busy commercial strip.

       The young man never made it to work.

       D.C. police said Cunningham was accosted by three masked assailants who fatally shot him and critically injured a man who intervened steps from Jersey Mike’s.

       “We’re just devastated,” said Kenya Darby, 33, who is engaged to Cunningham’s father and lives with the family. Noting surging violent crime in the District, she said, “We’re always tying to make sure he is doing the right thing, making sure he was where he was supposed to be.”

       A shaken Washington copes with surging violence: ‘This is not normal’

       That would be home, school, work and a boxing gym.

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       “He was where he was supposed to be at,” Darby said. “He was doing what he was supposed to be doing. And someone took his life.”

       She said she often reminded Cunningham of the perils of D.C. streets. “It’s dangerous out there,” Darby said she told him. “I know you’re not looking for trouble, but trouble will find you out there.”

       She added, “Our kids are dying.”

       D.C. police described the encounter involving Cunningham and the masked people as an altercation. Cunningham’s family said police told them it appears the assailants tried to rob him. Police would not comment further, citing the ongoing investigation. A police official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a juvenile, said Cunningham had no history with law enforcement.

       An employee who answered the phone Tuesday at the Brentwood location on Washington Place in Northeast said the Jersey Mike’s had closed for the day and no one was available. A police report said a bullet struck the front window of the shop. The school system did not respond to an inquiry on Tuesday.

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       As of Tuesday afternoon, police had made no arrests in the shooting, which occurred about 4:30 p.m. They said all three assailants wore black and one had a handgun. All fled in a black SUV. Police said the man who intervened was hospitalized in critical but stable condition. A family member reached by phone Tuesday said the man had just come out of surgery and relatives were not ready to talk about the incident.

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       The police report says investigators recovered a 9mm handgun from the scene. Police said it did not belong to the victim but declined to comment further.

       There have been 190 homicides in D.C. this year as of Tuesday evening, up 28 percent over the same period in 2022, putting the city on pace for one of its deadliest years in two decades. Fifteen people under the age of 18 have been killed this year, 14 by gunfire, according to police. A total of 18 juveniles were killed in all of last year, 16 from firearms.

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       Darby said Cunningham loved what most teens love — basketball and hanging with his friends. But his daily routines were simple and closely watched by his father and fiancée, the couple said. He spent free time at a boxing club in the Ivy City neighborhood, where he sparred but never had a fight.

       Cunningham was “small but tough,” Darby said.

       He had five younger sisters ranging in age from 2 to 13 years, including twins. Darby said he was hopelessly devoted to all of them. The twins and a 6-year-old lived with Cunningham, his father, 35-year-old Antonio Davis, and Darby. Davis and Darby work for Metro — he in rail operations, she in maintenance, the couple said. Two of Cunningham’s sisters live with their mother in Montgomery County, Md., family members said.

       Darby said Cunningham played with his sisters, took the 6-year-old to wait for the city bus to take her to school and, if one of his sisters called him from Maryland and needed help, he would drop everything, jump on a Metro and head right there.

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       Darby said Cunningham was contemplating college but hadn’t decided if that’s what he wanted. In addition to Jersey Mike’s, she said he worked under the mayor’s summer job program, learning entrepreneurship, and wanted to someday open his own boxing gym.

       He dressed to impress — Balenciaga shoes and Purple brand jeans — his hair trimmed to perfection. “He wanted to present himself well,” Darby said. Cunningham turned 17 in August, and for his birthday, his family said, he chose a dinner at a pan-Asian restaurant at National Harbor, taking along his twin sisters and a friend, followed by a concert at Capital One Arena.

       In an interview, Darby noted the spike in violent crime in D.C. and said she had a message for the mayor and police chief: “Please help our youth.”

       Lauren Lumpkin contributed to this report.

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