The shooting death of a 20-year-old District man was the result of an ongoing gang feud stemming from a January homicide committed a block away, Ward 1 Councilman Jim Graham told The Examiner.
Marcus Robinson was found shot to death late Friday night on the 3000 block of 14th Street Northwest, within a block of the Columbia Heights Metro stop, District police said. A red Jeep Cherokee was seen fleeing the scene of what Graham called a “targeted shooting.”
According to Graham, the shooting was the result of a “beef” between two Columbia Heights street gangs stemming from the slaying of Paul Dominique Jones. The 17-year-old was shot and killed on the 1300 block of Columbia Road Northwest on Jan. 9.
Eighteen-year-old Lafonte Carlton has been charged with killing Jones and 21-year-old Derrell Goins, an art student who was gunned down Dec. 10 in an alley behind the 2200 block of Champlain Street NW. Police have said they believe Goins’ death was the result of mistaken identity.
When Carlton was 15, he pleaded guilty to the shooting of a 22-year-old at 14th and Girard streets in August 2006. He was released from the District’s Department of Youth and Rehabilitation Services in fall 2008.
“Judging from his record and what [the police department] tells me, [Carlton] should have been kept behind bars,” Graham said in a statement released at the time of Carlton’s January arrest.
In recent years, DYRS has been pushed to quickly release young criminals, surrounding them with counselors at their homes instead. An average of six youths under DYRS care are killed each year.
Though Graham could not say whether Robinson had passed through DYRS, he called for a renewed effort to deal with young offenders.
Today, Mayor Adrian Fenty will introduce provisions of his omnibus crime bill to the District Council, Graham said.
But “that bill pertains almost entirely to adults,” the Ward 1 councilman said. “We don’t want to overlook the youth.”
Graham added that he has included $1 million in this year’s budget for a gang prevention program that tracks the complicated trail of gang retaliations.
“Even in a targeted shooting, innocent people get hit,” he said. “We don’t want any shootings at all.”
