Carlo General, 21, Marcel Gordon, 27 and Christen Wingfield, 24, all pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter while armed.
All three took plea deals for lesser charges. General was sentenced to 16 years in prison, Gordon to 10 years and Wingfield to 9 1/2 years.
A fourth defendant, Daryle Bond, 20, will be sentenced Aug. 4. He pleaded guilty to the same charge. His plea agreement calls for 7 1/2 to 9 1/2 years in prison.
Prosecutors said on the night of July 4, 2020, the group, who were all armed, ran toward a building on Cedar Street SE around 9:15 p.m.
At the same time, 11-year-old Davon McNeal had gotten out of a car and was walking toward the nearby Frederick Douglas Garden Apartments. General fired the shot that killed McNeal, prosecutors said, citing security footage.
Officers found Davon lying in his mother’s arms with a fatal gunshot wound.
Prosecutors said the group believed someone from a rival gang had been shooting at them. Bond, General and Gordon all fired their weapons as they ran away from the apartment building.
Davon was killed the night his mother, Crystal McNeal, a violence interrupter, had organized a peace cookout in the community.
Speaking at a gun violence prevention event in Southeast D.C. after the sentencing on Friday, Crystal said she would continue her work despite the pain and hurt of losing her son.
“No mother should endure this pain, no child deserves to be robbed of their childhood, hopes, dreams or life,” McNeal said. “Despite my pain, my family’s pain, I never stopped supporting the same community where my son took his last breath.”
The three men will be placed on five years of supervised released following their prison terms.
