A District man was sentenced to eight years in prison Tuesday for shooting a transgendered woman in the neck.
Darryl Willard, 21, pleaded guilty earlier this year to aggravated assault while armed in the Sept. 12 shooting in Southeast Washington.
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Police said the 26-year-old victim picked up Willard in her car in the area of 22nd and Savanna streets SE. The victim, who knew Willard for about a year-and-a-half, declined his request to have sex.
Williard then got out of the car at 23rd and Savannah streets, pointed a gun at the woman and said, “Give me what you got. Where’s your money at?”
The victim refused to give Willard her money, and Willard fired a single shot from close range. The shot hit her in the right side of her neck, punctured both lungs, and lodged near her heart where it remains.
It was the fourth shooting of a transgendered person over a less-than-three-month period this summer. Police do not believe Willard was connected to the other attacks.
