A man charged in a weekend shooting near a Caribbean Festival in Northwest was trailing members of a rival gang when he opened fire on them and instead killed an innocent bystander, according to police charging documents.
Terry Jiminez, 19, is charged with second-degree murder in the slaying of Robert Foster Jr., 43, who was caught in the crossfire of two rival gangs Saturday afternoon. Two other innocent bystanders and Mr. Jiminez were also injured in the shooting.
“This was a rival gang that came across another rival gang and decided to open fire,” said Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier at a morning news conference at police headquarters on Monday.
Mr. Jiminez, who was arraigned Monday, will be held in jail pending a hearing July 18, said William Miller, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney for the District Ronald C. Machen.
The spray of gunfire Saturday in the 700 block of Gresham Place erupted after Mr. Jiminez and two companions followed three men from Georgia Avenue, where the Caribbean Festival parade had ended, onto the residential street, police charging documents state. After following the men about halfway up the block, Mr. Jiminez took cover behind a parked car and began firing at the men he had pursued. Two of the men fired back, trapping numerous people in the crossfire between the two groups.
“Somebody like this is a magnet for violence,” said D.C. Council member Jim Graham, of Mr. Jiminez, who was shot in the arm.
Mr. Jiminez was a member of a neighborhood gang who had left the D.C. area for Buffalo, N.Y., after witnessing the slaying of a close friend in February, said Mr. Graham, Ward 1 Democrat. He reappeared in the neighborhood over the weekend.
The charging documents say that Mr. Jiminez was the intended target of a Feb. 19 shooting. Mr. Graham confirmed that the incident was the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Cardozo High School student Lucki Nancy Pannell, who was fatally shot outside a house in the 3000 block of Sherman Avenue in Northwest where she lived.
Police said Mr. Jiminez initially indicated after Saturday’s shooting that he was the one targeted by his adversaries.
However surveillance video of the shootout indicates Mr. Jiminez was the aggressor, charging documents state.
The site of the shooting was near Howard University and the Caribbean Festival parade route but was “not connected” to the festivities, which have been peaceful for many years, Chief Lanier said.
A large scale brawl unrelated to the shooting also erupted near Howard University during the festival. An amateur video posted online shows dozens of people racing through the streets and pummeling each other with their fists and at one point even a chair.
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