A 12-year-old connected to an attempted carjacking that left a 13-year-old dead in D.C.’s Penn Quarter neighborhood Saturday night has been arrested.
D.C. police said the 12-year-old, of Southeast D.C., has been charged with armed carjacking.
After 10 p.m. on Saturday night, police were called to the 600 block of D Street for the report of a shooting. When they arrived, they found 13-year-old Vernard Toney Jr., of Southeast D.C., with gunshot wounds. He was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Police said their initial investigation revealed that an off-duty federal officer was sitting in his car when Toney and another young person went up to him and demanded that he get out of his vehicle. One of the suspects was holding his hand “in his front waistband pocket as if he had a handgun,” the off-duty officer said, according to police.
As the off-duty officer was in the process of getting out of his car, he shot Toney and the other suspect ran off.
Police said that the off-duty officer’s firearm was a legally owned handgun and he is complying with the investigation.
There have been more than 800 carjackings so far this year, which is more than D.C. had at this point last year, according to figures from D.C. police. Drivers are encouraged to protect themselves at all times, including keeping doors locked and windows rolled up while driving.
The 12-year-old will be prosecuted by the Office of D.C. Attorney General, which handles juvenile cases.
Below is a map where the attempted carjacking took place.
