D.C. police believe they know the identity of the fourth suspect in a South Capitol Street massacre, the Washington Examiner has learned.
The 21-year-old is already wanted on a bench warrant after he missed a hearing for an unrelated marijuana and alcohol case, a police source said and court records confirmed. Detectives have quietly asked street officers to pick him up on the marijuana warrant and to hand him over to the homicide unit for questioning, a source with knowledge of the investigation said.
Police believe the man is the third gunman who rode in a silver minivan and opened fire on a crowd of mourners on South Capitol Street Southeast on March 30. Four were killed and five more wounded. It was one of the city’s worst shootings in decades.
Charged so far with the slayings are Nathanial Simms, 26, Orlando Carter, 20, and his 14-year-old brother Malik Carter. Authorities say the bloodbath was the ghastly result of a cycle of revenge that was spurred by a beef over costume jewelry. All three suspects had been in custody in the days before the rampage. Malik, in fact, had fled from a juvenile halfway house just a few days before the killings.
Prosecutors say in court papers that the trouble started at a raucous, late-night party on Alabama Avenue Southeast on March 22. Authorities allege that Orlando Carter’s brother, Sanquan, became irate when his gold-colored bracelet went missing. Orlando and Sanquan Carter are accused of opening fire on partygoers, killing Jordan Howe.
A day later, Orlando Carter was shot at close range but survived. D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanierhas said that prosecutors denied her request to sign an arrest warrant for Orlando Carter in the Howe homicide. But subsequent reports have shown that Sanquan Carter had also escaped from a juvenile halfway house and that Orlando Carter and Simms had all been in custody on misdemeanor drug charges before the violence began.
Police have been quietly staking out the funerals of the South Capitol victims, one source said. Detectives are worried about further retribution and have been videotaping the proceedings to gather evidence on potential witnesses, the source said.
