Victims Narrate Events Surrounding A Car Crash, Shooting

By Laura Berol , Maren Fagan - September 17, 2024
Daily Stories | Non-Fatal Shooting | Suspects |

Parties disagreed on whether a non-fatal shooting was assault or self-defense. Even the victim and his fiancée contradicted each other’s testimony on multiple points in a trial before DC Superior Court Judge Rainey Brandt on Sept. 16.

Adrian Lee, 49, is charged with assault with intent to kill while armed, aggravated assault knowingly while armed, two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, assault with significant bodily injury while armed, five counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, and unlawful possession of a firearm by a convict. The charges stem from his alleged involvement in a non-fatal shooting incident on April 18, 2023, on the 700 block of Gresham Place, NW, that left one person injured.

The prosecutor said the victim and his fiancée came from Maryland on the day of the shooting to eat at a DC restaurant in celebration of their tenth anniversary. On their way home, their Tesla collided with a Chevy Suburban driven by Lee’s wife, who called Lee to bring the victim his auto insurance card.

While the victim was on the phone with his insurance company, Lee’s wife drove away and Lee fled, the prosecutor said. The victim still had the insurance card with Lee’s name on it, which was expired and entered into evidence in the case.

The prosecutor said the victim found a police officer and asked how to report the accident. The officer told them to return to the location of the accident and then call for police help.

According to the prosecutor, the victim drove around until he saw Lee run into a house. The victim and his fiancée got out of their car to try to talk to Lee, the prosecutor said, but Lee came back out of the house with a gun.

“He ran towards [the victim] and [his fiancée], pointed the gun at her head, then turned and shot [the victim] in the stomach,” the prosecutor said. “[The victim] was immediately transported to Howard University Hospital, and that’s where he stayed for five months.”

The prosecutor told the jury they would hear testimony during the trial from the doctor who attended the victim.

“He’ll tell you how the bullet passed through his stomach, punctured his lung, ruptured his spleen, and lodged by his spine,” the prosecutor said.

According to the prosecutor, Lee fled to Florida after the shooting.

Destiny Fullwood-Singh, one of Lee’s defense attorneys, argued that Lee acted in self-defense.

Fullwood-Singh said Lee’s wife was pregnant at the time of the incident, and Lee told her to drive away out of concern for her safety because the victim’s fiancée was screaming at her after the collision.

“She got away. We’re going to f*** you up,” the victim and his fiancée shouted to Lee after his wife drove off, according to Fullwood-Singh.

“They chase him through the streets of DC. They chase him to his home,” Fullwood-Singh told the jury. She said Lee saw the victim or his fiancée take something from their waistband that Lee thought was a gun while approaching the house where Lee was, with his 18-month-old son, and his son’s grandmother.

“In a moment of fear and desperation, and in a moment he believed was life or death, Mr. Lee fired one shot,” said Fullwood-Singh. “Mr. Lee had run out of options and out of places to run, and he was forced to defend himself.”

According to Fullwood-Singh, Lee took his family to Florida after the incident due to fear of the victim and his fiancée, since they knew where he lived.

Following opening statements, the prosecution called the victim and his fiancée to testify. Since witnesses are not allowed in the courtroom during their case except while giving testimony, neither heard the other speak in court.

Both the victim and his fiancée identified Lee in court as their assailant.

The victim said all the interactions after the vehicle accident were calm until after Lee’s wife drove away.

“He held his hands up in a taunting fashion, like a fighting stance,” the victim said about Lee, after Lee’s wife left. 

The victim said Lee asked, “Whatcha wanna do?” and the victim responded, “I could beat you.”

Both the victim and his fiancée testified that Lee then ran away.

“That truck that sped? We never saw that again,” the victim’s fiancée answered when Albert Amissah, one of Lee’s defense attorneys, asked if she thought she recognized Lee’s wife’s Chevy Suburban on the street.

According to the victim’s fiancée, she noticed Lee on the street and got out of the Tesla to try to talk to him, but an unknown individual got between them and said, “This isn’t called for.”

The victim and his fiancée testified that Lee went into a nearby house and came out with a gun, which he pointed at the fiancée before turning and allegedly shooting the victim. They said neither of them was armed.

“I put my hands up,” the victim said about the moments before he was shot.

“Isn’t it true that Mr. Lee allegedly only shot one time?” Amissah asked the victim.

“Yeah, he only shot once,” the victim said.

“I heard two,” the victim’s fiancée said when asked how many shots were fired. “As I was picking him [the victim] off the floor, I heard another one.”

She said the victim tried to drive away but quickly became too weak.

The prosecution played a recording of the victim’s fiancée on the phone with a 911 operator. When the operator asked what intersection she was at, she screamed, “I’m in DC.”

The trial is scheduled to resume on Sept. 17.