D.C. police have made one arrest after a 1-year-old boy was shot and wounded as he sat in his stroller in Northeast D.C. last week, and investigators need the public's help finding two additional suspects.
Derrick Watson, 39, was arrested in Southeast D.C. Tuesday morning, Police Chief Peter Newsham said at a news conference. Watson is charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and possession of an unlawful firearm.
"There was more than one child that was in the area as these grown men were firing weapons at each other in our community," Newsham said.
Newsham said investigators are still searching for 27-year-old Saheed Washington Sulu. Police believe Watson, Sulu and an unidentified man opened fire on July 10, just north of the H Street corridor, after a dispute.
Jeremiah White was sitting in his stroller as his dad was walking him inside for the night, when the gunfire erupted steps away from their home on the 1300 block of I Street NE. Little Jeremiah was shot.
"The doctors found one bullet and fragments of another. Basically, he has three holes, and he got shot twice," Jeremiah's mother, Shardai White, said.
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Jeremiah had emergency surgery to remove the bullets. He was able to leave the hospital on Tuesday. Just two days after the shooting, he was back to acting like a typical 1-year-old.
"I don't know how he recovered so quickly, I thank God for it though," White said.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family with medical expenses. They had raised $1,300 toward a $4,500 goal as of Tuesday afternoon.
