D.C. teen charged in fatal shooting took part in crime spree, detective says

Jun 13, 2024

The 14-year-old charged in the fatal shooting last month of a construction worker on Howard University’s campus was part of group that had carried out an early-morning crime rampage spanning two hours and culminating in the deadly incident, D.C. prosecutors said in court Tuesday.

Prosecutors said the youth and at least three others, armed with at least two handguns, had carjacked two individuals and robbed a third by the time they approached the college campus in Northwest Washington and fatally shot 34-year-old Rafael Adolfo Gomez during an attempted robbery.

The Washington Post generally does not name people charged with crimes as juveniles and was allowed to attend the Tuesday hearing on the condition that the youth’s identity not be revealed. The hearing was to allow a judge to determine if D.C. prosecutors had sufficient evidence to proceed with the case, and whether the youth would be detained until trial or released home or to a youth shelter.

For nearly three hours, D.C. homicide detective Jeff Clay testified that authorities identified the teen as a suspect based on evidence from security cameras from around the city that he said captured the crimes, an anonymous tip and information from the parent of another youth. The teen is charged with crimes including felony murder while armed, attempted robbery while armed, carjacking while armed, two counts of robbery while armed and carrying a pistol without a license.

Police said no additional arrests have been made in the homicide.

According to authorities, the series of events began around 4:10 a.m. on July 13 in the 1100 block of W Street SE. There, Clay testified, four masked individuals walked up to a white Toyota Corolla and ordered the driver, a construction worker who was waiting for his co-workers to join him, to get out of the car. The four got inside the vehicle and drove off.

The second carjacking occurred just five minutes later at 4:15 a.m. in the 1400 block of 22nd Street in Southeast. The detective testified that the assailants drove up to a white Nissan Rogue, “boxed the driver in” and ordered the driver out of the vehicle. At least one of the assailants was then seen hopping into the Rogue. The detective said a security camera captured both the Rogue and the Corolla speed away.

Clay testified that at 5:45 a.m., the assailants were driving in the Rogue. The detective said they stopped at 55 M Street SE and robbed a man standing outside smoking a cigarette. Four people are seen on video jumping out of the car to approach the man, the detective said, and the teen is seen taking the victim’s wallet.

Then at 5:59 a.m. the Rogue is seen at Sixth and Bryant Streets on Howard’s campus, where Gomez was putting on his construction gear and preparing to go into work, Clay said. The Rogue passes Gomez and then returns and stops. A video camera at the construction site captured two people get out of the car and approach Gomez. “A scuffle occurs, then you see the suspects hop back into the vehicle and pull off, and the decedent drops, almost simultaneously,” Clay testified.

A camera later caught the vehicle approach the teen’s home, and the teen was seen exiting the vehicle, Clay said. A security camera inside the apartment complex showed the teen “pulling out wads of bills and counting them,” the detective said.

A black sweatshirt with a rectangular design, which was identified by the victims and on several of the videos, was located inside the teen’s home, Clay said.

The teen’s attorney argued there were no witnesses or identifying information on the video that linked her client to the crimes. The attorney also said this was her client’s first arrest.

Judge Sherri Beatty-Arthur said she found enough evidence to indicate the teen was present at the time of the crimes, although not enough to show he was the shooter in Gomez’s death. She ordered the teen held with the city’s Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services.

Sitting next to his attorney, the teen bowed his head onto the table, cradled it in his right arm and began sobbing.

“There is someone dead today. In less than two hours, we have four incidents that involved serious crimes. This is very troubling to me,” Beatty-Arthur said. The youth’s next hearing is scheduled for Friday.