Man who shot pregnant DC woman in car gets 21 years

A Capitol Heights, Maryland, man received a 21-year sentence for the shooting death of a woman as they sat in her car in Northwest D.C. in January.

Joseph Fox, 28, pleaded guilty in March to second-degree murder while armed and two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon.



His plea deal called for a sentence of 14 to 21 years, and he will be on supervised release for five years once his prison term ends, according to a news release from the U.S. Justice Department.

Fox, who knew Sierra Johnson, 27, of Northeast, shot her in front of her 2-year-old and 4-year-old daughters Jan. 19. She was four months pregnant at the time.

Authorities say the shooting occurred as Fox was a passenger in the car that was parked near the intersection of Georgia Avenue and Euclid Street.

Fox fired four shots while in the vehicle and then continued to shoot Johnson as she got out of the car.

U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves said four shots struck Johnson in the head, one hit her in the right side of the neck and another in the upper body.

Johnson’s children were not hurt.

Fox has been in police custody since his Jan. 25 arrest.

Colleen Kelleher

Colleen Kelleher is an award-winning journalist who has been with WTOP since 1996. Kelleher joined WTOP as the afternoon radio writer and night and weekend editor and made the move to WTOP.com in 2001. Now she works early mornings as the site's Senior Digital Editor.

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