Mayor Muriel Bowser called attention today to “an especially vicious crime” that took place last week on the 1300 block of Brentwood Road NE.
The Metropolitan Police Department is searching for two suspects involved in the shooting of a pregnant bystander and a male victim, which occurred in front of a carryout on August 30. Lakira Johnson, who was struck in the stomach, lost her twins after giving birth days after the incident.
Police released surveillance camera footage last week that shows nearly a dozen people scattering from the scene. “Somebody indiscriminately walked up on a group of people and began firing—they had no regard of which way those bullets were traveling,” said Metropolitan Police Department Assistant Chief Peter Newsham at a press conference this afternoon. Newsham will be the interim chief when outgoing Chief Cathy Lanier steps down on September 17.
Anyone who can identify a person from the video, be it a potential suspect or witness, “should call MPD right away,” Bowser said. The mayor also added that police believe the shooting took place in retaliation for a homicide that happened a day earlier. On August 29, around 11:45 p.m., a suspect fatally shot 24-year-old Tony Gates in the 1000 block of Rhode Island Avenue NE.
In addition, on September 2, someone fatally shot 28-year-old Lamar Parrish in the 2500 block of 14th Street NE. Police believe that all three incidents are connected, and each case is still open.
Johnson’s mother told The Washington Post that her daughter unexpectedly went into labor at a hospital four days after the shooting. The newborns passed not long after birth, though they lived long enough to be named Heaven and Nevaeh.
Johnson’s mother also told The Post that her daughter is currently recovering from a surgery performed earlier this week, which couldn’t take place until after the twins were born. “She is in a lot of pain,” Johnson’s mother said.
The District does not have a fetal homicide law, and police have put the gestational age of the twins at 21 to 22 weeks, “less than what doctors typically have determined to be viable,” according to The Post.
Newsham said that MPD is investigating the incident as an assault with intent to kill, but they “will consider the fact that the young lady lost her two infant children.”
