A D.C. man who shot a mother and her son following an argument over a scooter has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Anthony Bedney, 27, of D.C., pleaded guilty last April to one count of assault with intent to kill with a dangerous weapon and two counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. Judge Milton C. Lee Jr. accepted his plea and sentenced him on Friday. Bedney will be on five years’ supervised release after his prison term, a U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Columbia news release said.
The shooting happened on May 18, 2021 on 10th Street Northwest in the Logan Circle neighborhood. Police said that Bedney left a rented scooter in a bike lane, when a woman, who was outside with her family, told him that he could not leave the scooter there.
The woman moved the scooter, but Bedney came back and kicked the scooter over. She told Bedney that her kids were playing in the spot, and he responded with an expletive, court documents said.
The woman’s husband then approached Bedney, while she and her two young children stepped back. Bedney and the husband got into a verbal fight, and the father threw the scooter at Bedney, who moved away and was not hit.
As the family went back inside their house, prosecutors said Bedney put on a ski-type mask over his head, got a gun from his bag and fired several shots in the family’s direction, striking the woman and a child who was then 5 years old.
The mother was in the hospital for five weeks, and the bullet is still lodged in the child’s back, the news release said.
After the shooting, Bedney fled the scene. Police arrested him several days later, after police linked him through the scooter company’s rental record.
