D.C. police say the youngest homicide victim in the District this year — a 15-year-old boy — was shot by one of the youngest homicide suspects.
A 16-year-old boy was arrested Tuesday in the killing of Malachi Jackson, News4 is first to report.
Jackson was shot multiple times on April 11 in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Northwest D.C. He had just moved to the neighborhood, Alvoncia Jackson, his grandmother, said Tuesday.
“It hurts because my grandson is no longer here, and this young man gets to still breathe on God’s earth. He gets to breathe God’s air. He gets to still talk to his family,” she said through tears.
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Jackson was killed in a barrage of gunfire in the 3000 block of 13th Street NW. He was hit in the head and the chest, his grandmother said.
Officers responded at about 10:50 p.m., and Jackson was pronounced dead on the scene.
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Alvoncia Jackson said she believes that young people in the neighborhood tried to force him to sell drugs and take drugs but he refused. Then they set him up to be killed, she said.
The family did all they could to raise Jackson well, his grandmother said.
“We did our job. We kept him in church. We kept him in activities in school. We kept on him. We stayed on him so he didn’t go out there in them streets, and they found him out anyway. The evilness found him,” she said.
The killing of the teen was captured on a security camera. Police used that evidence to arrest the suspect, who has a history with police, Capt. Kevin Kentish said, citing a problem with repeat offenders.
“When we lock people up, we hope that they’re held, but sometimes it’s not what happens,” he said.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
