One man has been killed and three other people critically hurt in a shooting outside a funeral for a murder victim in the American capital, police have said.

Metropolitan Police chief Robert Contee said a police officer was stationed near the funeral home in north-east Washington where the service was held when the gunfire broke out around 12.30pm on Tuesday.

The shooting happened about 20 minutes after the funeral, for a murder victim shot in March, ended.

The victim’s family had asked police to have officers near the funeral, Mr Contee said.

At least four people were shot, he added.

One man died at the scene and three more people — two men and a woman — were taken to the hospital in a critical condition, according to fire service officials.

“At this point, it appears that several people who were in the block were specifically targeted,” Mr Contee said at a press conference outside the funeral home.

“We’re unsure why that is, why these people were targeted, more or less why they were targeted at a funeral. We don’t understand that.”

Police have made no arrests.

The gunfire comes as the country reels from the latest string of mass shootings, including five people killed at a Louisville bank on Monday.