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D.C. teen held in connection with drive-by shooting of five
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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 4:30 p.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.
smccabe@dcexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
8:36 PM MST on Wed., Jul. 16, 2008 re: "Three shot in Falls Church"
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3:43 PM MST on Wed., Jul. 16, 2008
re: "Three shot in Falls Church"
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9:33 AM MST on Wed., Jul. 16, 2008
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11:41 AM MST on Thu., May. 1, 2008
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7:58 AM MST on Wed., Jan. 30, 2008
re: "D.C. police say arrest is coming in shooting near Ballou High"
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6:25 PM MST on Wed., Jan. 23, 2008
re: "Three students shot in drive-by"
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8:08 AM MST on Wed., Jan. 23, 2008
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Examiner Reader said:
Well there you go assimilation at its best Bring it on, Falls Church Police are too busy busting speeders in their 20 mph zones. Expensive homes and high crimes ..... Lets all sing Kumbaya
2 agree | 2 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Get over the immigration issue! Just because someone is listening to and singing Spanish music, you assume they are illegal - give us all a break!!
5 agree | 4 disagree
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Examiner reader said:
Immigration status, please?
4 agree | 7 disagree
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gunsrgood said:
when you place a ban on handguns the only people who carry them are criminals and cops. If citizens would be allowed to carry them that guy would never have gotten of a single round. and the only person who would have been injured would be him. lift the ban on handguns. for your own protection.
11 agree | 9 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Someone shoud as the Mayor why one of the 15 year old kids shot was taken out of his class room not by school staff but by members of the Peaceaholics and made to confront the same group that hours later would shoot him. The Peaceaholics were not even supposed to be in the school let along allowed to take a child out of class to confront other students. This confrontation lead to the shooting a short time later.
41 agree | 46 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
9 police officers in one school. Let me guess...
39 agree | 34 disagree
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Veteren said:
Here we go again, stupid children with no parential guidance doing stupid things. Neighborhood Feud over property and space they have no ownership in. I will bet when this investigation is complete the perpetrators will be a mixture of high school drop outs who reside with a relative who provide no parental guidance and reside in public housing. Another sad state of the District mis-guided policies and poor parential guidence who allow their thug children to prevent those students trying to do the right thing in obtaining an education
57 agree | 35 disagree
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