WASHINGTON — D.C. police have arrested one man and issued a warrant for a second suspect believed to be involved in a July shooting in Northeast D.C. that claimed the life of 10-year-old Makiyah Wilson.
The arrest of one of the alleged shooters, Qujuan Thomas, 20, of Southeast D.C., came nearly a month after local officials upped the reward for information in the child’s death to $45,000.
The second suspect, Quentin Michals, 21, also of Southeast D.C., remains at-large and is considered armed and dangerous, D.C. police Chief Peter Newsham said at a Saturday news conference.
There are at least three additional suspects wanted in connection to the shooting, the chief said.
Wilson was shot July 16 as she prepared to go to an ice cream truck.
“This murder was devastating,” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said at the news conference. “This was a beautiful 10-year-old child.”
According to surveillance video from D.C. police, a black Infiniti sedan pulled onto the 300 block of 53rd Street Northeast, at Clay Terrace NE at around 8 p.m. Five masked men got out of the car, and immediately began firing guns in all directions, before getting back in the car and speeding off, Newsham said Saturday.
The child was killed and four adults were wounded during the incident. Police have not yet released a motive in why the five men opened fire on the group.
The woman whose Infiniti was carjacked told NBC Washington she called police after recognizing her stolen car in the surveillance video.
When he was 19-years-old, Thomas was arrested and charged with felony armed robbery in August 2017, according to D.C. police. The robbery occurred in the 2500 block of Elvans Road in Southeast, when a group of four people approached their victim before one person in the group pulled out a gun. They then robbed the victim and ran away.
Court records said Wilson pleaded guilty to the crime and was sentenced to two years of probation.
