Donta Curtis McNeil was arrested Wednesday and charged with second-degree murder while armed for the shooting of 24-year-old Antonio Dean.
McNeil was arrested by the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force Wednesday for allegedly fatally shooting Dean on August 22. Dean was found by police without a pulse at around 2:50 a.m. in the 1300 block of Stevens Road, SE.
The man accused of killing his cousin waived his right to a preliminary trial Tuesday, and the case was continued to a November court date.
Upon entering court, a shackled Roosevelt Robinson nodded to a man seated in the front row– Ronald Carswell Jr., his second cousin, and the nephew of the woman he is charged with fatally shooting.
Robinson, 67, is charged with second-degree murder for allegedly shooting Loretta Carswell, 63. According to police, Robinson barricaded himself inside a home after allegedly shooting his cousin in the head and was engaged in a stand-off with police lasting more than 31 hours.
When asked routine questions by the judge about his decision to waive a preliminary hearing, Robinson chuckled– a notion his second-cousin interpreted as a sign he isn’t taking the case seriously.
“I’m here to support my aunt, since she can’t be here. I am not here to support him,” Ronald Carswell Jr. said following Tuesday’s court proceedings. “I think he’s taking this as a joke…I forgave him for what he has done, but he has to answer to his God.”
According to Carswell and police charging documents, the fatal shooting of Loretta Carswell on August 21 stemmed from a family dispute–Loretta Carswell wanted Robinson out of the home she owned, and that had been in her family for years. Robinson claimed Carswell stole a $10,000 diamond ring from him that was intended for his daughter.
Ronald Carswell Jr. said he and his siblings and father were raised in the home that became the backdrop of the family tragedy. A memorial still stands on the front porch where his aunt was fatally shot– while his family now wonders how to celebrate Christmas, a tradition typically celebrated at his aunt’s house with presents for everyone and plenty of holiday food.
“We’re trying to figure out what to do. We had Christmas at her house for years…that’s gone now,” Carswell said. “You don’t do that to family. That’s the worst part– our family member did it.”
Carswell said he has forgiven Robinson so he can deal with the grief of losing his aunt while not remaining angry– though he still wants the criminal process to continue and Robinson to be held responsible for his alleged actions.. He also argued his aunt’s innocence– adding that she was financially secure and would never steal a ring.
Carswell described his aunt as a strong, stern and loving woman who wouldn’t put up with excuses or bad behaviors from family– but did it out of love.
“There’s not one person she wouldn’t help,” he said.
Carswell was on a retreat with work when he received the phone call that his aunt had been shot. Media reported on Loretta Carswell’s death and the barricade, and also noted that her death brought the homicide death toll to 99.
Police have identified the man found stabbed to death Tuesday as 32-year-old Cortez Lamont Clark of Maryland.
Clark was found with stab wounds in the 300 block of Parkland Place, SE at around 1 p.m. Tuesday by police responding to a call of an unconscious man. Clark was dead by the time police arrived and was taken to the medical examiner’s office for an autopsy.
Police are searching for a suspect they say is responsible for last month’s double shooting that left one man dead.
Police are asking for the public’s help in locating John Anthony James who police believe is responsible for the shooting death of 21-year-old Earnest Massenberg-Bey, Jr. Police have an arrest warrant to charge James with second-degree murder.
According to police, Massenberg-Bey Jr. and another friend were shot on the night of September 28 on the 1100 block of Easton Road, SE.
The mother of one of the victims told WJLA that her son and his friends were approached by James asking for money. When they refused, the mom says James opened fire killing Massenberg-Bey Jr. and critically injuring a friend.
A 24-year-old who killed a man in a fight last July pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter Wednesday.
Kenneth Garner accepted a plea deal recommending 90 months in prison in exchange for a guilty plea for the manslaughter charge in the death of Thomas Harris. Garner was initially charged with first-degree felony murder.
According to prosecutors who presented the deal in D.C. Superior Court, Harris, 52, was found on the ground gasping for air, bleeding from his head on July 5. He was taken to the hospital and died later the next day. According to an autopsy included in charging documents for Garner, Harris’ cause of death was multiple blunt force injuries.
Prosecutors said Harris confronted Garner in an attempt to buy prescription drugs from him. An argument ensued in which Garner pushed Harris to the ground, which injured his head and ultimately lead to his death.
As part of a plea offer, Garner also pleaded guilty to possession of a prohibited weapon for a prior incident inside a shelter, where he slashed a man in the eye after the man didn’t respond when asked for the time.
A final decision on both plea offers now sit with the judge. Sentencing for the involuntary manslaughter charge is scheduled for December 11.
A 19-year-old who shot his best friend twice in the head and set his body on fire pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in court Friday.
Zaccheus Blanding (also known as Zakias) will face 18-26 years in jail as part of a plea agreement, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The body of Heineken McNeil, 19, was found burning in a trash can on June 23, a day after he was killed. Police could not initially identify the body because it was so badly burned.
According to police, Blanding was staying with his McNeil in an apartment shared with Blanding’s mother.
Though Blanding admitted to the crime and was arrested, according to his charging documents, he also told police the shooting had been an accident and he put his friend’s body in a garbage can and lit it on fire because he panicked.
But according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office Blanding taped a video of himself in which he said “This is going to be the last video I’ll ever make. I plan on killing three people – my best friend, my mother and her girlfriend . . .” a day before he killed McNeil. He consistently referred to McNeil as his best friend, according to police.
Police recovered the gun used in the crime in the room McNeil and Blanding shared.
As part of the plea deal arrangement, Blanding pleaded guilty to second-degree murder while armed. He is scheduled to be sentenced December 11.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated where Heineken McNeil was living. McNeil was living, and was later shot, in a home with Zaccheus Blanding, and not in McNeil’s home as was originally reported.
The man charged with the stabbing death of Kevin Sutherland aboard a red-line train on July 4, was found competent to stand trial Friday.
The attorney for Jasper Spires, charged with murder for the brutal death of Sutherland, said after court that his client has received medication leading to the competency finding, and maintained his client’s innocence.
Spires has not been indicted in the case, and the case was continued to Jan. 29 pending further investigation. According to prosecutors, if the government were to make a plea deal the soonest it would occur is winter-time.
“Clearly, we believe the government has problems determining Jasper was the one involved,” Spires’ attorney Antoini Jones said. “However, his family and he, being human beings are so sorry that someone was killed. Clearly that’s horrific–the way Mr. Sutherland was killed, and [neither Spires’] family nor he condones this type of activity. Nonetheless, he maintains his innocence respectfully.”
During court, Jones said his client is “anxious for a resolution.” A judge had previously ordered a full mental observation based on Spires’ behavior in court.
Sutherland’s parents as well as other family and friends were present for Friday’s proceedings.
Friends said seeing Spires is a continuous reminder of the brutal way in which Sutherland was killed.
According to autopsy notes made public in the government’s charging documents, Sutherland had 30-40 stab and cutting wounds on his body, including several deep stabs to his chest and heart, and suffered blunt-force trauma to his head and face and other parts of his body.
“It’s been getting harder every day,” said Kevin Sutherland’s cousin, Anita McBride, of the pain his parent’s feel. “But this was a good news too, now he can stand trial for his crime. We wanted to be sure. I was pleased with that. It won’t bring Kevin back but at least there is a process, a transparent process for justice.”
Sutherland’s former roommate, Abigail Finn, said she was also pleased that the case will move forward, and she plans to continue to attend future proceedings to support Sutherland and his parents.
In a written statement, Sutherland’s parents said they continue to grieve the “senseless” loss of their son.
“We are still trying to understand how such a brutal and heinous attack would happen in broad daylight on the DC Metro with no provocation whatsoever. No explanation will ever bring our son back, but we are determined to understand how this happened and see that Kevin’s murderer is held accountable and prevented from ever harming another innocent soul,” they wrote.
The Sutherland’s also criticized the climbing homicide rate in the district, calling it “unacceptable.”
“A hundred and nineteen other families are mourning their losses with us today- our heart goes out to them….their lives, like ours, will never be the same. We must do more to end this scourge in this city that Kevin loved so much. He would expect nothing else.”
A 20-year-old man was fatally shot Tuesday morning, according to police.
Police say Muhammad Washington was found with apparent gunshot wounds in the 600 block of 42nd street, Northeast at around 11:45 Tuesday morning. Washington, also of Northeast, was taken to a hospital where he died from his injuries.
According to NBC Washington, Washington was on his way to the store when he was shot.
A man was killed after attempting to rob two other men early Saturday morning, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.
According to police, two victims of the attempted robbery were also shot in the scuffle.
Police responded to a triple shooting in the 700 block of H Street, NE at around 1 a.m. Saturday. Two victims suffering from gunshot wounds were taken to the hospital, while 32-year-old Jerome Leroy Wright died from his injuries on the scene. Police say a preliminary investigation reveals Wright attempted to rob the two other victims and all three were shot in the attempt.
The woman charged with the stabbing death of her boyfriend pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in Superior Court Tuesday.
According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Loretta Hall accepted a plea deal and pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, instead of going to trial for the murder of her long-time boyfriend, Kenneth Fogle, in their shared apartment on June 13.
According to the news release, Hall used a kitchen knife to stab Fogle multiple times, including a fatal stab to his heart. Hall hid the knife in a cat litter box inside the apartment, according to the release. Witnesses found Fogle, 54, slumped outside the apartment building in a “pool of blood.”
Hall, who will be sentenced Jan. 8, was out on supervised release stemming from a 2009 conviction for assault with significant bodily injury. Violating conditions of her 2009 release could add prison time to her sentence for the more recent conviction, according to the release.
A man stabbed in an assault in 2009 died this past June, and his cause of death has been ruled a homicide.
Police announced Tuesday that the death of 39-year-old Jose Lopez on June 14 was the result of complications from multiple stab wounds sustained in a 2009 assault.
The police are now investigating the homicide, which stemmed from the initial stabbing on April 18, 2009 in the 1400 block of 8th Street, NW.
Detectives on Tuesday made an arrest in the murder of a 25-year-old.
Police have charged 27-year-old Antonio Brown of Maryland with the alleged murder of 25-year-old Charles Antonio Welch, also of Maryland.
According to police, Welch was killed in the 1800 block of Harvard Street, NW on September 18.
Brown was charged with first degree murder while armed.
Two men were wounded, one fatally, in a shooting on Eaton Road in Southeast D.C. Monday night.
According to police, two male victims were found suffering from apparent gunshot wounds Monday night at around 7:30 p.m. in the 1100 block of Easton Road, SE.
Both men were taken to the hospital. One victim was listed in critical condition while a second victim, Ernest Massenberg-Bey, Jr., was pronounced dead.
Massenberg-Bey Jr. was 21-years-old and from Southeast, D.C.
Police are investigating the apparent shooting death of a Baltimore man Wednesday night.
According to police, 38-year-old Levi Kinte Davis was found suffering from gunshot wounds at around 8:20 p.m. Wednesday in the area of 4200 East Capitol Street, NE.
Davis, of Baltimore, Maryland, was taken to the hospital by emergency personnel where he was pronounced dead.
A 35-year-old man died from injuries Sunday sustained after an assault the night before.
According to police, Kassahun Abebe Edo fell and struck his head on a sidewalk or curb at around 3 a.m. Saturday after he had been involved in some kind of altercation.
Edo was found in the 700 block of Fairmont Street, NW, by police officers responding to a report of a fight in that area.
Edo was taken to the hospital Saturday but died from his injuries the following day. Police say he was a resident of Irving, Texas.
