Near fatal fire caused by child with lighter
A child playing with a lighter caused an apartment fire that critically injured a 4-year-old boy, according to D.C. fire officials.
Firefighters battling a blaze at 1713 Benning Road NE on Wednesday night found the boy unconscious in the kitchen floor, said D.C. fire spokesman Pete Piringer. The child remained in critical condition Thursday. A 24-year-old woman was with five children, ages 2, 3, 4, 4 and 5, when she was alerted to a fire in a bedroom, Piringer said. She evacuated the children but realized a 4-year-old twin was still inside and went inside to find him and suffered severe burns.
D.C. man charged in 2007 beating death
A man who was severely beaten with a brick in 2007 has died from those injuries, and his accused attacker has been charged with murder, D.C. police said.
Maurice Yancey, 44, also known as Malik Shabazz, was charged with second-degree murder while armed in the death of Demetrius Ormon Dempsey of the District.
Police said Yancey, also of D.C., followed Dempsey to the 200 block of 54th Street SE and hit Dempsey in the face with a brick. Dempsey was transported to a hospital where he remained in coma for two weeks. He lived in nursing homes for the rest of his life until his death in December 2010 at age 34.
The D.C. medical examiner ruled the death of homicide resulting from complications of blunt force trauma.
Guilty plea for man shot near U.S. Capitol
A man who was shot by U.S. Capitol Police officers after approaching them with a gun has pleaded guilty in the case.
John Wesley Wheeler Jr. of Suitland, acknowledged that he ran toward an officer sitting in a police car near the U.S. Capitol in the early hours of Sept. 17, pointing a gun in the car’s direction.
After the officer sped away, Wheeler approached two other officers and was shot. Wheeler told a judge he is taking medication for depression and schizophrenia.
He pleaded guilty to assaulting, resisting, or impeding the officers.
– Scott McCabe
