19-year-old fatally shot by boyfriend while holding their daughter

By D.C. Witness Staff - August 1, 2016
Homicides | Victims |

Anaiona Gaston’s boyfriend shot her once in the forehead while she held their two-month-old daughter in her lap, in what he described to police as an accident.

Gaston, 19, was found sitting cross legged on top of a bed, dead from a single gunshot wound to the head inside Fields’ apartment early Saturday morning.

Fields, charged with second-degree murder, told homicide detectives he had returned to the apartment from a club and safely unloaded his gun. Gatson was already inside the apartment with their daughter, as she had been let in by Fields’ grandparent earlier that night.

Fields told police he had Gaston “began to have a deep conversation about their relationship,” when Gatson began playing around, making “pop pop” noises and using her fingers to make shooting motions “in a joking matter.” According to the affidavit for his arrest, Fields told police he pointed his gun at Gatson and said “pop pop” and the gun went off. Fields told police he tried to wake up Gatson, who had been holding their daughter in her lap, but she did not respond. He then fled, tucking the gun in his waistband, which he was found with later when police found him by the apartment.

Police included an interview with Fields’ grandparent in the charging documents, who had let Gatson into their apartment at 2300 Good Hope Road, SE, and called police after she was shot. This witness told police that after they heard the shooting, they saw Gatson lying in the bed and Fields left the apartment. They gave police a description of Fields who was apprehended and later charged with second-degree murder while armed.

Fields was presented in D.C. Superior Court Saturday and is being held without bail. He is due to appear in court for a preliminary hearing Aug. 15.

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