D.C. police have arrested a 39-year-old man in connection with a shooting that wounded a one-year-old child who was caught in the crossfire near Trinidad. Officials are still looking for two suspects related to the incident, which took place on July 10.
Early this morning in Southeast, police arrested Derrick Damon Watson and charged him with assault with a dangerous weapon and unlawful possession of a firearm, said D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham today at a press conference.
Police are also searching for another suspect, 27-year-old Saheed Washington Sulu, of Southeast. They are asking for the public’s help in identifying a third suspect in the case.
Newsham said that the three men appeared to be involved in a dispute before the gunfire erupted. “There was more than one child in the area as these grown men fired weapons at each other in our community,” he said.
Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen also attended the press conference. He thanked the police for their work in the arrest and called the boy’s shooting, which happened in his ward, “reprehensible.”
Shardai White told NBC Washington that her son Jeremiah, who was shot as his father walked him in his stroller, is her “miracle baby.”
Police found Jeremiah in an alley behind the 1300 block of I Street NE around 9 p.m, according to a D.C. police report. He was rushed to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
His mother told NBC that doctors found one bullet and fragments of another. “Basically, he has three holes and he got shot twice,” she said. He underwent emergency surgery and was released from the hospital the following day.
Later that week, he was back to his typical self, White said. “I don’t know how he recovered so quickly. I thank God for it, though.”
After the incident, Newsham tweeted video footage of the incident, adding that “no one shoots a one year old and gets away with it on our watch.” He said today that police will re-release the footage to the public to help identify the third suspect.