A 19-year-old with a long history of violence was in the custody of the District’s embattled juvenile justice agency when he allegedly killed another man over a piece of costume jewelry, setting off a spiral of violence that police say led directly to one of the District’s deadliest rampages, the Washington Examiner has learned.
Sanquan Carter is charged with second-degree murder in the March 22 shooting death of Jordan Howe. Police say Carter and his brother, Orlando, shot Howe because they mistakenly believed Howe had stolen a gold colored bracelet.
At the time of the killing, Carter was under the supervision of the city’s juvenile justice agency, records show. A source with knowledge of Carter’s background said he was supposed to have been confined to Extended House, a city-funded group home. House director Daryl Brown couldn’t be reached Tuesday for comment.
Sanquan Carter was well known by juvenile justice officials, records show. He was first arrested at age 10 and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon. Since then, he had been in and out of custody on charges ranging from drug possession to attacking corrections officers, records show.
He was so violent that guards in the Oak Hill detention center demanded he be transferred to a more secure jail, a source familiar with his background said. He had fled youth custody in August, then been charged as an adult with unauthorized use of a vehicle in November. Juvenile officials put him in a special diversion program on March 17, records show.
Authorities allege that Howe’s killing set off a chain reaction of revenge that left four people dead on South Capitol Street last week. It was the city’s deadliest shooting in decades.
Sanquan Carter is not the only suspect to have slipped through the justice system’s cracks. Malik Carter, the 14-year-old accused of driving the getaway car in the South Capitol bloodbath, fled from a different group home on March 22. Orlando Carter and a third co-defendant, Nathanial Simms, had each been in custody on misdemeanor drug charges before the killings.
Juvenile agency spokesman Reggie Sanders declined to discuss the cases. But he said in an e-mail that 65 kids — 7 percent of the agency’s caseload — are currently fugitives from the juvenile system.
Within hours of Howe’s killing, Sanquan Carter was placed into the custody of the nonprofit group Peaceaholics, records show. The next day, he was arrested.
“He was not in our program when the murder happened,” group founder Ronnie Moten said.
Temple Bullock, Orlando and Sanquan Carter’s grandmother, said she didn’t recognize the young men as described in prosecutors’ legal briefs.
“I love them and they’re special to me,” she said in a brief phone interview. “They’re my grandkids, so they’re wonderful.”
