Federal prosecutors refused police requests last week to lock up a man who is now a key suspect in a D.C. shooting spree that left four dead and six wounded, the Washington Examiner has learned.
D.C. police had been on the trail of Orlando Carter, 20, since a March 22 homicide. That killing apparently was the first in a string of shootings that culminated in Tuesday night’s bloodbath on South Capitol Street.
Carter was one of two men ordered held without bond Wednesday after being charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder. Also charged with the murders was Nathaniel Simms, 26. Carter’s teenage brother Malik has also been detained.
Police Chief Cathy Lanier confirmed Wednesday night that they were still searching for a fourth suspect.
The suspects fired on the crowd to avenge an earlier shooting of Orlando Carter, according to police sources.
That shooting, in turn, came after Orlando Carter and his 19-year-old brother Sanquan “Bootsie” Carter gunned down 20-year-old Jordan Howe at a party on March 22.
D.C. police had sought Orlando Carter after the earlier shooting, officials confirmed.
Lanier had an emergency meeting with U.S. Attorney Ron Machen on Friday. She asked for a warrant for Carter’s arrest in the Howe homicide, but prosecutors said evidence was lacking.
“We sympathize and we understand how people feel,” U.S. Attorney’s spokesman Channing Phillips said. “…At that point in time, sufficient probable cause had not been developed, but we continued to work with [D.C. police] in an effort to establish the required evidence needed for a warrant.”
Authorities are now trying to unwind the tangled threads of revenge that lead to Tuesday’s rampage. They’ve also charged Orlando Carter with Howe’s killing.
According to court records and sources familiar with the ongoing investigation, Sanquan and Orlando Carter shot Howe after falsely accusing Howe of stealing Sanquan’s gold-colored bracelet. A bullet struck Howe in the head.
Sanquan Carter was arrested a day later and charged with second-degree murder.
Shortly after Howe’s death, Orlando Carter was shot in the face.
On Tuesday, Howe’s friends gathered to bury him. Fearing further violence, police staked out the funeral. It went off peacefully, but mourners then gathered in front of a brick home on South Capitol Street, just off Brandywine Avenue.
According to law enforcement sources, Simms, along with Orlando and Malik Carter and another man, piled into a van to seek revenge for Orlando’s shooting. They first wounded a man at the Wingate House-East Apartments. Moments later, they saw the crowd on South Capitol Street.
» On March 22, Jordan Howe was killed at a raucous party on Alabama Avenue, SE.
» According to court papers, Sanquan Carter set a gold-colored bracelet on a ledge and stripped to the waist so he could flex his muscles for the party’s guests.
» After his exhibition, he discovered that his bracelet was missing. Enraged, he began patting down guests, court papers state.
» According to court papers and a law enforcement source, Carter conferred with his brother Orlando briefly. The two men then opened fire, striking Howe in the head.
» A third man who had left the party before the shooting later admitted to stealing the bracelet and gave it to homicide detectives, court papers state.
» Shortly after Howe’s killing, Orlando was himself shot in the face by a friend of Howe’s, according to a top law enforcement official. The wound, though, was superficial, and he walked away from the emergency room, a law enforcement source said.
» With Sanquan accused of killing Howe and locked up, the remaining Carter brothers went looking for revenge, law enforcement officials allege.
» Among the dead Tuesday: Brishell Jones, DeVaughn Bond, William Jones, and a 16-year-old girl.
— Bill Myers
Authorities allege that the men opened fire with an assault-type rifle and two handguns.
Police responding to the first shooting saw the South Capitol gunplay. Officers chased the speeding van into Prince George’s County and back into the District before it finally pulled over.
Tuesday’s shooting might have been the single most violent act in the District since the mid-1990s, when D.C. was America’s “murder capital.”
Among those killed Tuesday was 18-year-old DeVaughn Boyd. Boyd’s cousin, D.J. Rico, said Boyd was “just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Simms and Orlando Carter were ordered held without bond Wednesday. They’re due back in court April 15th.
Lanier and Mayor Adrian Fenty spoke to a crowd of more than 100 people that had gathered Wednesday night at the shooting scene.
“We have to work as a team,” Lanier told them. “We have to work together, or retaliations will continue to occur.”
Staff writer Kaitlin Schluter contributed to this report
