District police have made an arrest in the slaying of a D.C. Council intern.
Police charged Omare Ishmael Cotton,28, of Southeast D.C., with first-degree murder in connection with the death of Alonte Sutton, the 18-year-old whose body was found Sunday with multiple gunshot wounds at the bottom of a small ravine near his home in Southeast.
Cotton was arrested around 4:15 p.m. Tuesday in the same neighborhood where Sutton was killed.
Law enforcement sources said Cotton lived in the neighborhood and had previous run-ins with Sutton. Sources familiar with the investigation said Cotton slashed the tires on Sutton’s car and likely waited for him to come out to fix the tires.
When Sutton showed up, the suspect shot at and chased Sutton into the woods on Saturday night, witnesses told police. Police found Sutton’s body the next day after family called to report that he had been missing and witnesses told them about the shooting. Sutton also appeared to have suffered serious injuries from the fall down the steep incline, police said.
Police were investigating whether the officers who responded to the call of shots fired on Saturday did a thorough investigation.
Sutton was a Ballou High School student who was on track to graduate this year. He had interned for Councilman Michael A. Brown last summer and earned a coveted internship in the 2009-2010 session for the secretary to the council.
At the same time, Sutton had several run-ins with police, according to records reviewed by the Washington Examiner and law enforcement sources.
He was arrested in January for allegedly trying to steal wheels and tires from a car on Congress Avenue, but the charges were dismissed. He had four arrests last year as a juvenile, including one for a hit-and-run incident on Newcomb Street.
A prayer vigil has been scheduled at 7:45 p.m. on Wednesday, at the site of Sutton’s death, in the 200 block of Newcomb Street Southeast.
