A man has pleaded guilty in a shooting that led to the death of a bystander outside a Northwest D.C. deli.
Demarcus Bennett, 20, of D.C., pleaded guilty to a charge of voluntary manslaughter on Monday in the shooting that killed 62-year-old Lasanta Qumar McGill in June.
Barnett admitted during his plea that he chased after two people who he said robbed him and then “fired wildly down the sidewalk,” according to a Justice Department news release. Barnett struck McGill, who was outside the deli. McGill later died at a hospital.
At a news briefing following the shooting on June 8, D.C. police Commander James Boteler said the incident started as a “dispute” between at least three men in the entryway of a deli. The argument spilled outside and turned violent, ending with a spate of gunfire.
“It doesn’t appear, watching the video that we’ve recovered, that our victim in this case was involved in the emerging dispute at all,” Boteler said. “We believe he had just been somebody who was out in the block.”
Barnett is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 27.
