A 16-year-old was arrested and charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a Northeast Washington man in early December, authorities said.
On the evening of Dec. 5, Metropolitan Police Department officers responded to reports of gunfire inside an apartment in the 300 block of Morse Street NE just after 8 p.m., where they found 20-year-old Roy Lee Bennett Jr. unconscious and suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, according to an MPD news release. DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services pronounced Bennett dead at the scene after lifesaving efforts failed.
Nearly a month later, on Dec. 30, members of the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force located and arrested Keyonte Johnson of Washington, D.C., on a Superior Court arrest warrant charging him as an adult with premeditated first-degree murder while armed, police said.
According to court documents, Johnson shot Bennett seven times with a pink hangun as the victim stood at a microphone in the apartment, which was being used as a recording studio near Union Market. Prosecutors said the gunfire struck Bennett, including twice in the back of the head and twice in the chest, before Johnson fled and threatened a potential witness.
Johnson, who was the cousin of Bennett, is an aspiring rap artist who was recording a song dedicated to his recently deceased brother, according to the police affidavit. A witness speculated that Bennett may have accidentally shot Johnson’s brother during a shootout with another group of men earlier this year.
Another witness noted that the scene was friendly until Bennett rapped a line, “had to cut off my bitch she acting too bougie,” that Johnson thought should be removed. Bennett then said “these young n***** don’t know nothing” and shortly thereafter the shooting took place.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro called the killing “yet another example of the out-of-control underage crime plaguing the district.” “President Trump is right – it is time to put an end to this predictable violence and time to lower the age of accountability so that I can start prosecuting these young criminals before they commit murder,” she said in a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
During execution of a search warrant in Maryland where Johnson was arrested, investigators recovered several magazines and ammunition, as well as clothing consistent with what the suspect was wearing during the homicide, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Johnson appeared in D.C. Superior Court on Dec. 31, where a magistrate judge found probable cause and ordered him held without bond pending trial. He is scheduled to appear again on Jan. 14 for a preliminary hearing. Prosecutors said the case remains under investigation; charges are allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court
