D.C. police have arrested a teenager in the drive-by shooting of five people in Southeast Washington.
Deidrick Johnson, 17, was charged as an adult with five counts of assault with intent to kill, police said. Johnson is scheduled to be arraigned today.
Police sources said the drive-by shooting in Southeast in which Johnson was charged may be connected with another shooting at Ballou High School this week that left four teenagers injured. But neither Johnson nor anyone else had been charged in that case as of late Thursday, police officials said.
The shooting in which Johnson is charged happened about 4:30p.m. on Jan. 11 at Washington View apartments. Five men between the ages of 17 and 20 were walking in the 2800 block of Douglas Road Southeast, when a vehicle pulled up and a suspect opened fire, police said.
The victims were taken to an area hospital with minor injuries where they were treated and released.
D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said detectives were able to make an arrest because witnesses came forward with crucial information.
“The day when it’s acceptable for a person to drive up and shoot into a crowd of children, that’s nothing more than cowardice, and the community is fed up with it,” Lanier said.
The Washington View shooting came two weeks before Tuesday’s after-school shooting outside Ballou High. Police said a black Ford Focus drove up to about 200 students who were leaving school and a gunman got out and opened fire. Four students were struck with bullets. None of the teenagers suffered life-threatening injuries, police said.
Police said detectives were trying to determine if Johnson was connected to some of the other drive-by shootings in the area, including the Ballou case.
