Victim’s Brother Shares Memories from Day of Shooting with Jury

By D.C. Witness Staff - October 21, 2022
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Juveniles | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

On Oct. 20, a murder trial began with the jury hearing about the day a witness’s 15-year-old brother was shot and killed.

Malik Holston, 20, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder while armed in connection with the shooting of Gerald Watson on the 2900 block of Knox Place, SE on Dec. 13, 2018. 

The prosecution highlighted the “beef,” or tension, between the Langston Lane apartments, where the victim lived with his family, and the Hartford apartments, where Holston presided. 

Watson’s older brother said he remembered his little brother asking their mother if he could go play basketball at a nearby court after they arrived home from school. About “10 to 15 minutes” after his brother left, the witness said he heard gunshots nearby. 

The witness said he ran out of their apartment and out to the parking lot looking for his brother. While outside, the witness said he heard a voice saying “Gerald’s in the hallway.” The witness ran up the stairs where he found his brother, upright, surrounded by ammunition casings.

The witness asked Watson, “you good?” to which Watson did not reply. The witness followed up by asking if he was “hit,” and Watson replied, “everywhere.”

Footage shows a responding officer running up the stairs to where Watson was laying, covered in blood. The officer stated Watson was “gasping for air and groaning in pain.” He had been hit multiple times in the legs, hand, and the side of his torso.

The officer proceeded to attempt to remove Watson’s outer layers in order to relay an accurate description of the wounds to medical personnel. 

Three other witnesses testified to the security of the crime scene and obtaining the projectile of a bullet, from the body of the victim and the submission of it as evidence.

Defense attorney Matthew Wilson prefaced his argument with the statement that there is no physical evidence connecting Holston to the crime.

D.C. Witness previously reported,

During the hearing on Oct. 6, a witness testified that her deceased friend, Steffen Brathwaite, told her about his and Malik’s involvement in Watson’s death. “Me and my mans caught an op,” the witness said Braithwaite told her through a text message thread. She described “an op” as a rival and his “mans” as the defendant.

DC Superior Court Judge Rainey Brandt scheduled the trial to continue on Oct. 24.

Read more about this case, here.