After a 13-year-old was shot and killed during a carjacking in downtown D.C., District officials spoke about what happened and who the child was.
Vernard Toney Jr. died Sunday after he was shot on D Street NW, in the Penn Quarter area, the previous night. Police say an off-duty federal security officer shot Toney after he and another young person tried to carjack him. One of the juveniles held his hand in his pocket as if he had a gun, police said, and then the officer opened fire. Toney was shot and the other person ran.
Toney was a seventh grader at Kelly Miller Middle School in Northeast D.C. He was smart, funny and talented, his principal said in a letter to families.
"He had a natural comedic ability and loved to make people laugh, especially when he would joke that he was the principal of Kelly Miller MS. Vernard also loved to play basketball and spend his free time on the court with his friends,” the letter said.
Toney had been accused in a string of previous carjackings. Two sources familiar with the investigation say Toney was arrested in May in connection with a number of armed carjackings in Southeast D.C. He was 12 at the time. It wasn’t immediately clear what happened with the cases.
Mayor Muriel Bowser called Toney’s death a tragedy.
“Guns, carjackings, 13-year-olds: recipe for tragedy. And that’s what we have,” she said Monday.
Acting Chief of Police Pamela Smith said she wanted to be sensitive to Toney’s grieving parents and classmates.
“He was known to the Metropolitan Police Department, and it’s just unfortunate that this particular incident happened on Saturday night that caused him to no longer be here,” she said.
Toney’s family declined an interview request.
13-year-old's killing comes amid crime crisis in DC
D.C. crime statistics say 827 carjackings have occurred so far this year. Of those, 74% involved guns. Most of those arrested are under 18.
D.C.’s crime crisis was the subject of a D.C. Council committee meeting on Monday. Leaders, community members and victims’ families discussed violence-reduction programs.
“Everywhere I go, I hear people say that crime is the worst that they have seen and it is driving our long-term residents out of the city,” Council Member Anita Bonds said.
The acting police chief said she believes a small number of young people are responsible for many crimes in D.C.
“It’s not all our juveniles. We believe there’s a small number of juveniles […] The majority of our young people in the District of Columbia are amazing young people,” she said.
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As of Monday evening, no charges had been filed against the off-duty officer who opened fire.
Counseling services were offered to Toney’s classmates.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
