A high school student killed in September outside a sandwich shop in Northeast Washington’s Brentwood neighborhood was shot in the head during a day-long armed-robbery spree involving juveniles, according to D.C. police and court documents.
Authorities attributed five robberies and one attempted robbery to members of a street crew, two of whom, ages 16 and 17, were arrested Thursday. Police alleged in court documents that as many as four people attacked victims in two distinct morning and evening crime sprees on Sept. 11, often demanding victims’ sneakers.
Police said at least two of the victims were students. One was a teenager robbed of his sneakers while walking to morning classes at Roosevelt High School in the Petworth neighborhood. The other was 17-year-old Antonio Cunningham, who was fatally shot while walking to his after-school job at the Jersey Mike’s sub shop on the ground floor of the Rhode Island Row apartment complex in Brentwood.
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The teens who were arrested, Marlan Smith Jr., 16, and Anthony Monroe, 17, were charged as adults with first-degree murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and several counts of robbery, police said.
A D.C. Superior Court judge on Friday ordered both defendants detained pending a Dec. 4 hearing. Monroe’s attorney, Stephen Logerfo, declined to comment on Friday. Smith’s lawyer did not respond to an interview request.
Cunningham’s father, Antonio Davis, 36, said the arrest “brings some relief” to his grieving family. He said a police detective visited his house Thursday night with the news. “Even though there is justice now, it’s still not going to bring my son back,” Davis said. “All we can do is just wait.”
Cunningham was a junior at Dunbar Senior High School and had started working at Jersey Mike’s over the summer. He played basketball and boxed at a gym. Family members said he was a snappy dresser — purple jeans, Balenciaga footwear — had five younger sisters, some of whom lived in Maryland, and would visit frequently. Relatives said Cunningham was contemplating college but wanted to someday open a boxing gym.
The day-long spate of robberies came amid a spike in violent crime in the District and involved three categories with the sharpest increases compared with this same period last year: robberies, up 70 percent; vehicle thefts, up 101 percent; and homicides, up 32 percent.
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Police said the series of armed robberies on Sept. 11 began before 6 a.m. in front of a fire station in the Columbia Heights neighborhood. Police said people with masks got out of a vehicle and confronted a person riding a scooter.
One stuck a gun in the person’s stomach and said, “Give me everything you got,” according to a police affidavit, which describes the items taken as a backpack, iPhone and AirPods. The affidavit, filed in court, says the victim told police that the gunman threatened to kill him if he refused to reveal his bank card PIN.
Police said the same group robbed three more people over the next three hours — two near Coolidge High School in Takoma and the one in Petworth that targeted the student headed to Roosevelt High School. The affidavit says an armed assailant told the student, “Let me get the Penny’s off your feet,” apparently referring to a type of Nike sneakers.
Later that day, a few minutes after 4 p.m., police said, members of the same crew robbed a person of sneakers in the 16th Street Heights neighborhood. Police said the same group then drove in a blue Kia Sportage and an SUV to Brentwood in Northeast, where the fatal shooting occurred 27 minutes later.
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Relatives said Cunningham usually took the Metro from school to the Rhode Island Avenue station and then walked to work, where he made sandwiches. On Sept. 11., police said, he and a friend first stopped at a Chipotle restaurant in the same complex.
They had just left the Chipotle when, police said, they were robbed near the front entrance to Jersey Mike’s. Police said four masked people believed to be teens pulled up in a black SUV and a Kia Sportage and jumped out. The surviving victims told police that at least one of the assailants had a gun and pointed it at his face, demanding, “Give me your shoes!”
Police said the surviving victim took off his white Balenciaga sneakers and ran away. Police said the gunman then turned toward Cunningham, who was on a sidewalk in front of Jersey Mike’s, wearing gray Nike Air Jordan 3 sneakers. Witnesses told police the gunman pressed Cunningham against a wall.
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The affidavit says a bystander armed with a legally registered handgun and concealed-carry permit intervened in the robbery attempt. Police said the gunman then fired, striking Cunningham in the head and the bystander in the chest. The bystander, who police said did not fire his weapon, fled into Chipotle. Police said he had critical injuries but survived.
Police said Monroe and Smith were arrested Oct. 5 after residents reported suspicious vehicles parked on Floral Place NW, in the Takoma neighborhood. Police said they found two juveniles in a stolen red Nissan and one juvenile in a stolen silver Hyundai Tucson.
The vehicles were parked in back lots near trees. One had its headlights on and motor running. All three juveniles were sleeping, and police said they found loaded handguns in both vehicles.
Court documents identified two of the juveniles as Smith and Monroe. Both were arrested and initially charged as juveniles in connection with the firearms and stolen vehicles. On Thursday, they were charged as adults with murder and other crimes.
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