Man Charged in Mass Shooting That Killed Child Awaits Indictment as Investigation Continues

By Tory Lysik [former] - February 11, 2022
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

Prosecutors said they are continuing to investigate the mass shooting that killed six-year-old Nyiah Courtney during a hearing for the defendant charged in her death.

Marktwan Hargraves has spent seven months in jail since his arrest and continues to await indictment. The 23-year-old is charged with second-degree murder while armed for his alleged involvement in the drive-by shooting that took place on July 17, 2021, at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X Avenues, SE.

Prosecutors believe Nyiah’s father was the intended target and that the shooting was the result of a feud between two groups in the area. The girl’s parents along with three others were struck by the gunfire that night but survived their injuries. Nyiah’s father was arrested soon after on unrelated robbery charges. 

Hargraves was arrested nine days after the shooting. Parties in this case met on Feb. 11 and discussed the lack of an indictment, with the defense questioning why it has not come in yet.

“It’s not that we haven’t done anything in the grand jury but it’s a case we will continue to investigate,” the prosecutor said, mentioning there are people of interest they are still investigating, and there may be more arrests made.  Court documents state there were others in the car at the time of the shooting. 

Parties were conflicted on whether there has been ample time for the prosecution to bring an indictment to the table, but the defense said if the court had not tolled deadlines due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they would have met the deadline already. The prosecutor disagreed, saying that it will have been nine months since the arrest in April, which is the typical deadline in the Superior Court system. 

The prosecutor’s office is currently prioritizing 2019 and 2020 cases over 2021 cases for indictments.

Judge Milton Lee asked parties to give him an indication of how long they need. The defense counsel was contingent on having it sooner but the prosecutor asked for two to three months.

Parties said they hope to resolve the case “without the court’s assistance”  but gave no indication on what that exactly meant. Judge Lee set an April 6 hearing date to check in on the case.