Defendant Sentenced in ‘Active Shooter’ Incident That Wounds Good Samaritan

By Jeff Levine - May 6, 2024
Court | Daily Stories | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

DC Superior Court Judge Michael Ryan sentenced Tyrone Taylor, 37, to eight years in prison for what the prosecutor described as an ‘active shooter’ event that terrorized at least four victims and seriously wounded another.

According to court documents on July 22, 2023, officers from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) police responded to a caller who said someone had threatened him with a gun on Kingman Island, a man-made, wooded preserve in the Anacostia River.   

In the May 3 hearing, the prosecutor described Taylor as responsible for that assault as well as a series of events in the secluded area that day as characteristic of an ‘active shooter.’

Using a 9mm handgun, the prosecutor says Taylor accosted two fishermen at gunpoint, then two hours later encountered an individual who thought Taylor might need help.  While the Good Samaritan said he wasn’t calling police but summoning assistance, Taylor responded by opening fire. 

The prosecutor played body-worn camera video of the victim’s rescue as he was lying on a table with first responders attempting to stop the bleeding from life-threatening wounds in the abdomen and left-leg.

Later, according to the prosecution, Taylor pointed a gun at a juvenile who ran in fear and stopped two people who all hid together “cowering in fear” from the sounds of gunfire.   All in all, said the prosecutor, Taylor exhibited “deadly and volatile behavior.”  

The prosecutor also pointed out that Taylor had an extremely violent criminal history.  The offenses going back to 2005 included an armed robbery conviction and a manslaughter conviction in 2016.

In January, Taylor pleaded guilty to charges of assault with intent to kill, assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. The prosecutor asked Judge Ryan for sentences of eight respectively on the first two charges, and seven years on the third count.

Speaking on Taylor’s behalf, attorney Carrie Waletz said, “No doubt this was a volatile situation that could have been worse.” However, she said that Taylor was “very much on the edge” after being targeted by gunfire many times, and, by his own account, wounded five times. 

The problem was compounded, says Waletz, by Taylor’s “self-medicating” with street drugs which she called a “recipe for disaster.”  Waletz went on to describe Taylor’s challenged family background without a father who also wound up in the criminal justice system,  

Judge Ryan had ordered a mental competency evaluation for Taylor which concluded he was fit to stand trial in spite of thinking the judge described as paranoid-like and “not entirely logical.”

Taylor apologized for the crime; however, he said, “Everyone in this room doesn’t know what the victim was doing.”  And Taylor said he feared for his life. “Why was my space violated?” he asked as the victim approached. 

In passing sentence, Judge Ryan said, “This man you shot suffered a great deal….You created a great deal of havoc.” 

Taylor will serve eight years for the assault with intent to kill charge, seven years for assault with a deadly weapon and eight years for possession of a firearm in a crime of violence for eight years.  The sentences are to run concurrently.  All that followed by three years of supervised release and a $300 payment to victims of crime fund.