The man accused in the fatal shooting of an 11-year-old boy in Southeast D.C. will likely go to trial.
A D.C. judge decided that initial evidence presented against Tony McClam, of Southeast D.C., should go to a grand jury and ordered him held without bond.
The judge heard the details of the case against McClam, 29, who was arrested on charges of first-degree murder in the shooting of Karon Brown on July 18.
According to court documents, McClam confronted the boy and his friend at a McDonald’s parking lot along Alabama Avenue SE over a fight between the boys and McClam’s girlfriend’s son.
Out of fear, prosecutors said Brown sought refuge in a good Samaritan’s car, asking the two men in the car to drive him home. But instead, the driver made a U-turn to question McClam about threatening the boy, prosecutors said.
Defense lawyers told the judge that McClam acted in self-defense when he fired shots into the car because he thought he saw the driver reaching for a weapon. They said that McClam did not know that the victim was in the back seat.
McClam will return to court in October.
WTOP’s John Domen contributed to this report.
