WASHINGTON — Relatives and friends of a 16-year-old girl and an 18-year-old accused in her fatal shooting broke into a shouting match outside of D.C. Superior Court, following a preliminary hearing for the suspect, who was ordered held without bond.
Personnel from the U.S. Marshals Service and Metropolitan Police Department rushed to the front of the courthouse after the argument began. Emotions ran high after the hearing for Dekale Bowman, 18, who’s charged with second-degree murder in the shooting of Taiyania Thompson, 16.
Thompson was shot Jan. 25 in an apartment on Mount Olivet Road Northeast, in the Ivy City area near Gallaudet University. She died a few days later.
Bowman’s defense attorney told a judge that no one saw who pulled the trigger and that the gun used in Thompson’s death has not been recovered. A previously filed court affidavit says Bowman told a witness the shooting was an accident.
But the judge in the case said there was enough evidence to indicate Bowman was involved in the shooting and ordered him held without bond.
During the hearing, prosecutors said that on afternoon of the shooting a witness heard someone screaming, “No, no, no!” They also say Bowman and another man were seen going into the apartment after the gunfire.
The prosecution also says that Thompson and Bowman were in a relationship that included abuse. One witness has testified that Bowman was seen pointing a gun at Thompson after a heated phone conversation last fall, prompting Thompson to yell at him to “stop playing.”
Social media images entered into evidence also show the two of them handling guns together.
Bowman is scheduled to return to court on March 30 for a status hearing.
