Judge Imposes Stiff Sentence for Shooter Asking, ‘When Will it Stop? Ever?’

By D.C. Witness Staff - May 26, 2023
Daily Stories | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

DC Superior Court Judge Erik Christian went beyond the prosecution’s recommendations in passing sentence on Kelvin Brevard who, according to court documents, opened fire near a busy bus stop. 

Brevard, 23, is charged with assault with a dangerous weapon during a crime of violence and unlawful possession of a firearm with a past conviction in connection with an incident that occurred on the 3900 block of Minnesota Avenue, NE on Oct. 13, 2022.  

Brevard originally said the shooting was in self-defense but later pleaded guilty to all charges.  Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers allegedly recovered five shell casings from a storefront window and ten shell casings around the bus stop after the shooting.  Brevard was critically wounded in the exchange of gunfire from an unknown assailant. 

In a sentencing hearing on May 26, Brevard’s attorney Thecle Bethel asked the judge to put Brevard on probation because he was trying to get away from “people who were gunning for him” in the halfway house where he lived.  

Bethel told the judge Brevard suffers from PTSD because he’d been shot 26 times in violent encounters.  Brevard said he nearly died on the operating room table twice.

Unmoved, Judge Christian asked Brevard if he kept the people at the bus stop in mind during the attack. “People were fleeing…When does it stop, ever?” said Judge Christian.  

Brevard said he did try to avoid shooting anyone to which Judge Christian replied, “By the grace of God” no bystanders were injured.  “I don’t get the mentality,” he said.

The prosecutor said Brevard’s case is an example of the perplexing increase in gun violence in the District of Columbia which is at a twenty-year high.  His sentencing recommendation was 42 months on the assault with a deadly weapons charge and 36 months on the illegal possession complaint.

However, Judge Christian went beyond that, sentencing Brevard to 72 months on the assault charge and 42 months on the weapons violations, both terms to be served consecutively.  

After the hearing Bethel told DC Witness that the outcome was no surprise given Brevard’s history.  “He felt it was his karma,” she said.