Parties gave their closing statements regarding a family shooting before a jury and DC Superior Court Judge Carmen McLean on Sept. 23.
Larry Carr, 21, is charged with assault with intent to kill while armed, aggravated assault knowingly while armed, two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, five counts possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, possession of an unregistered firearms, and carrying pistol without a license outside home/business for allegedly shooting his cousin during a domestic argument. The incident occurred on Oct. 22, 2023 at the 100 block of Ridge Road, SE.
In their closing statements, prosecutors cast Carr as the aggressor, trying to undermine any claims that he acted in self-defense in shooting his cousin. Prosecutors brought up the troubled history between Carr and the victim, who exposed himself to Carr’s young sister and assaulted another child months before the shooting, claiming that Carr was waiting for the opportunity to take revenge.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is all about anger and how the defendant just couldn’t let it go,” prosecutors said.
Prosecutors argued that Carr was trying to take the law into his own hands and punish the victim himself instead of letting the prosecution’s investigation play out. The victim has since been charged in both the exposure incident as well as the assault on a disabled minor. Carr reportedly confronted the victim over the phone and on Instagram live for both of these incidents weeks before the shooting.
In their description of the shooting, prosecutors focused on the fact that Carr’s other cousin had stepped between him and the victim, who was brandishing a knife, and that Carr could have fled out of the back door if he truly felt that his life was in danger.
“Everybody was trying to get him to put that firearm down,” prosecutors said, adding, “[Carr] just wanted him gone.”
In addition to their verbal arguments, prosecutors also showed the jury body camera footage of the victim lying in a pool of his own blood, screaming “help” and played a recorded 911 call in which the victim’s sister can be heard screaming for help and saying that her cousin just shot her brother.
Prosecutors insisted Carr was the instigator.
“You know that the defendant jumped off the couch and pointed a firearm at [the victim] before anything else happened,” prosecutors said.
Where prosecutors portrayed Carr as vindictive, his defense attorney portrayed him as a young man fearing for his life in a confrontation with a known abuser. Carr awoke to find the victim standing in the entranceway, knife in hand, according to Carr’s defence attorney, Teresa Kleiman.
She argued the victim’s history of abuse to minors and the deteriorating relationship between him and Carr, who had vocally denounced him months prior.
“He wanted to get the kid who outed him on Instagram,” Kleiman said about the victim.
Kleiman used witness testimony from family members who were in the house on the day of the shooting to argue that Carr put the gun down at one point in the confrontation but that the victim never put his knife away. Kleiman also established the timeline of the shooting to argue that Carr was thrust into the situation and forced to act quickly.
Kleiman said that the victim entered the home where Carr was staying at 11:22 a. m. and that two minutes elapsed before the shooting occurred, according to witness testimony from a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer and CCTV footage.
“Larry had to think fast to save his life. In two minutes [the victim] caused another fracture in this family,” Kleiman said.
The defense quoted allegedly threatening statements the victim had made to Carr over the phone weeks before the shooting saying he would “turn up” on Carr when he saw him and telling Carr, “give me the address Larry, I’ll be right there.”
In her final appeal to the jury, Kleiman argued that Carr might not be alive in the courtroom if he had not pulled out a gun and that the accounts provided by the prosecution’s own witnesses showed that Carr acted in self-defense.
“Ladies and gentlemen, there are still some good laws in DC and one of them is you can defend yourself,” Kleiman told the jury.
Finally, prosecutors argued that there were other ways for Carr to resolve the situation and said that the victim was backing up towards the front door when the shooting happened.
“They were supposed to be a family. They were supposed to talk about things, get through things,” prosecutors said.
Parties are slated to reconvene when the jury reaches a verdict.
