Authorities said the officers were not seriously injured. The chairman of the police union said one was struck in the ankle, another in the calf and a third was hit twice in a ballistic vest, suffering bruises but avoiding what could have been critical wounds.

“Luckily, none of [the bullets] made it through” the vest, said the labor leader, Greggory Pemberton.

D.C. Police Chief Pamela A. Smith said that she and Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) visited the injured officers in the hospital and that all were “in good spirits.”

The spasm of violence upended daily life in Southeast and served as yet another reminder of D.C.’s struggles with crime. Parents navigated around roadblocks to pick up their children, who in turn walked by crime scene tape on their way home. Residents were locked inside their homes or barred from returning to them. The city opened an emergency center to help residents who needed a place to stay.

Smith said the officers with the Criminal Apprehension Unit were serving a warrant on behalf of the Humane Rescue Alliance, charging a suspect with cruelty to animals. Details of the allegations in the warrant were not revealed. About 8:15 p.m., officers could be seen leading dogs away from the residence on leashes. Police appeared to be searching the area with flashlights.

“The individual refused to come outside,” Smith told reporters at a briefing at the scene Wednesday afternoon. “As officers attempted to gain entry, the individual fired on them.” Police said the shots were fired through the door.

Police radio captured the chaos that ensued. At 8:06 a.m., a police officer called a “10-33,” code for an emergency, into dispatch: “Shots fired. Multiple officers have been hit. I have two officers down,” the officer said, according to radio transmissions from openmhz.com, which allows people to listen to live and archived radio transmission from police and fire departments.

The officer quickly upped the count of those struck, telling a dispatcher: “Three officers shot.”

As of 6 p.m., Smith said the person remained barricaded inside the residence.

“There have been periods of time throughout the day where he has been shooting, which is why we have ensured we don’t want anyone in that area,” the chief said. “We have been in communication with him. … There were moments where he was very agitated, and there were moments where he was very positive.”

Smith said police are prepared for a long standoff. “We will tolerate this as long as we continue to engage with the subject to get him to surrender to our law enforcement personnel,” she said.

Authorities did not identify the man named in the arrest warrant and could not say if he was the same person doing the shooting. The chief described the person’s behavior as “up and down.” She said police have not laid eyes on the person since the shooting.

The Humane Rescue Alliance, a nonprofit that rescues animals in the District, said in a statement that its field services director, Dan D’Eramo, was at the scene but was not injured.

The statement said officials’ thoughts are with the injured officers, “and we are wishing them all the best in their recovery. We could not fulfill our mission without them.”

Police cordoned off a wide swath of the area with crime tape and rows of police cars. In the morning, a steady stream of families dropped off their children at a KIPP DC school amid heavy police presence.

By early afternoon, parents such as 47-year-old Nneka Dukes were outside the KIPP school, picking up their children who were dismissed early because of the barricade.

When her 9-year-old son, Nasir, emerged, his head was down and his eyes looked sad. She recognized his facial expression from almost exactly a year ago, when police tape also had closed in around her family.

That time, her oldest son, 22-year-old Nico Dukes, had been fatally shot. She said police have since arrested a man that had grown up alongside Nico. Nasir knew that his big brother had gone to heaven and that police officers had been around his house during that period. Nneka Dukes figured the yellow tape and sirens circling his school Wednesday must have reminded him of Nico.

Nasir, who is known in school as the “math king” for his consistently high standardized test scores, normally enjoys spending time in class. Just last week, Nneka Dukes surprised him at a special breakfast for honor roll students.

But as he trudged out of the building Wednesday, still looking down, he turned to his mom and said, “I don’t want to come to school tomorrow.” Nneka Dukes said she tried to counsel him: “We don’t know what tomorrow is going to hold.”

“I don’t want to come,” he replied.

Down the street from at least two armored vehicles and officers carrying rifles were Grace Bell, 63, and her dog, Chloe. They were on an afternoon stroll through their neighborhood, where Bell has lived for the last 12 years.

She said that a man had moved into a house where police were focused Wednesday less than a year ago and that he was known to have dogs that could be out of control.

During a news briefing at the scene, Smith said there are too many illegal firearms on the street, and she urged D.C. Council members to pass the final version of a crime bill that would increase penalties for some gun crimes.

In an interview, Pemberton said changes need to be made to the city’s public safety apparatus. “It’s our mantra at this point - the system is broken,” he said.

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Keith L. Alexander and Craig Hudson contributed to this report.