WTOP today published the first section of a three part series looking at the shooting death of 13-year-old Alonzo Robinson in Trinidad in 2008.
The 2008 fatal shooting of 13-year-old Alonzo Robinson in the Trinidad neighborhood of D.C. helped spark the second incarnation of the Metropolitan Police Department’s now dormant Neighborhood Safety Zones initiative and focused attention on the violence taking place in the city’s Northeast quadrant.
Now, nearly three years later, a trial for the young men accused in the events surrounding the teenager’s death is expected to begin. In a three-part series, WTOP takes a look at the night of Robinson’s death, the response by city police and the subsequent search for justice.
washingtonexaminer.com | Feb 23, 2011
Police have long been pushing to quell the violent exchanges between the two Petworth gangs that roam Georgia Avenue. Among the highest-profile shootings was the August slaying of Neil Godleski, a 31-year-old Catholic University student who was gunned down in Sherman Circle. His killing led to a community outcry. Since then, Police Chief Cathy Lanier has been meeting with community members to inform them of the department’s efforts to stem the tide of daytime gunfire exchanges and robberies. On Wednesday morning, she took that presentation to Mayor Vince Gray and the D.C. Council, presenting the department’s gang-fighting efforts during the elected officials’ monthly breakfast meeting.
“In Ward 4 we have a list of 39 people most likely to be shot or shoot,” Lanier said. She added, “Between 65 and 70 percent are under some sort of court-ordered supervision.” Many of the gang members have had 13 or 14 arrests for robbery and carjacking, the chief said.
Updated 2:48 p.m. with charging documents
Donald Crosland, charged yesterday with first degree murder while armed in the death of teen Ricardo Minger, told homicide detectives this week that he had fired the fatal shots.
Crosland, 17, is the second person charged in the shooting. A murder charge against Kevin Clark for Minger’s death is pending grand jury indictment.
Minger, a 17-year-old resident of Southeast D.C., was shot in the face and abdomen Jan. 7 in an apartment in Southeast D.C. He was identified by his fingerprints, according to court documents in the case against Clark.
Crosland, known to friends as “D,” is alleged to have shot at Minger at the same time as Clark the night that Minger was killed.
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A second person has been arrested in the January shooting death of 17-year-old Ricardo Vondell Minger, the Washington Post reports.
According to the report, 17-year-old Donald Crosland turned himself into police Wednesday.
Crosland was presented with a first-degree murder charge this afternoon and is expected in court March 16 for a preliminary hearing in the case.
Also charged in Minger’s death is 23-year-old Kevin Lamont Clark, whose case is pending grand jury indictment.
Updated with a copy of the plea agreement at 4:27 p.m.
Deon Thornton pleaded guilty this morning to fatally stabbing his older brother in the lobby of an Adams Morgan apartment building earlier this month.
Thornton, 21, was due in court today for a preliminary hearing in the case. Instead he agreed to plea guilty to voluntary manslaughter while armed, a charge that could earn him up to thirty years in prison.
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This comment of the day comes from Carol, who wrote:
Another teenage girl is dead within 3 blocks of my home and still no arrests. Justice for Ebony Franklin and Lucki Pannell is justice for all women. Their deaths make us all vulnerable.
In June 1985, D.C. Metropolitan Police Deputy Chief Alfonso Gibson told the Associated Press that the recent killing of 49-year-old Catherine Fuller was “probably one of the most brutal murders that ever took place in Washington.”
Catherine Fuller’s life ended as the sun was setting on Oct. 1, 1984. As she walked home from a grocery store, a group of young toughs followed her. They murdered her in a garage. The crime attracted scant notice.
The police arrested a suspect three days later, one more on Nov. 29, two on Dec. 4, five on Dec. 9 and, intermittently, more suspects as the investigation continued.
The last arrest was May 22.
Sixteen young men, ages ranging from 17 to 22, stand accused of felony murder—a slaying that occurs in the commission of a felony, in this case robbery.
“To the best of my knowledge, it is the largest number of arrests in a single homicide in the city’s history,” said Lt. William White III, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Department.
Now the cases of the seven men finally convicted in Fuller’s death are under scrutiny.
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Washington Post | Feb 18, 2011
Detective Milton Norris earned the Homicide Detective of the Year, achieving a 300 percent clearance rate (according to FBI Uniformed Crime Reports standards), by closing five cases in 2010, which included slayings from 2006, 2007 and 2009. Norris is a member of one of the top performing homicide squads in the unit, which are supervised by Lt. Ozetta Posey, whom the Post profiled Her two squads finished 2010 with the highest closure percentages (Squad 6 at 93 percent and Squad 1 at 87 percent).
Eighteen year old Lucki Pannell was killed in Columbia Heights Saturday night when an unknown man walked up to her home and started shooting at the porch where she was sitting. Two young men who were with Pannell were injured in the shooting.
Here’s a links round-up from the holiday weekend.
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Following are scheduled court appearances for murder cases. This information is current as of Monday, Feb. 21 at 9:000 p.m. and will be re-verified throughout the week. Please remember that court dates can change, even at the last minute. To view the docket of a case please go to the D.C. Courts website and search by the defendant’s name. To add an item to the calendar, email homicidewatchdc [at] gmail.com.
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