Ballou Shooting Suspect, Victim Fought for Months

Pearl Boykin says she feared for her son Thomas, left, at Ballou. "I went to the principal asking for protection," she said. He is accused of second-degree murder in the shooting of a fellow student. (Marvin Joseph -- The Washington Post)

The Ballou Senior High student fatally shot inside the Southeast Washington school on Monday and the classmate accused of killing him had been involved in a dispute since September, police and students said yesterday.

Pearl Boykin, whose son, 18-year-old Thomas J. Boykin, has been charged with second-degree murder, said she told Ballou Principal Art Bridges in November that she was worried about her son's safety because of the feud he was having with students from another Southeast neighborhood.

"I went to the principal asking for protection," Pearl Boykin said in an interview in front of her home. "He told me he was going to watch out for T.J. He said he would look out for my son because he knew the situation with the boys."

The father of the slain student, 17-year-old James Richardson, also recalls speaking with Bridges months ago about his son's safety. He has said the principal told him in October that Richardson would be transferred to another school.

Bridges declined to comment yesterday, saying he was too busy.

Interim schools Superintendent Elfreda W. Massie said she had not heard that Boykin's mother had asked for help from Bridges. "I was not aware of that, not at all," Massie said. "That's just disturbing."

She said school officials were investigating what had happened regarding the plans to transfer Richardson.

Boykin was arraigned yesterday in D.C. Superior Court. Wearing black Nike sneakers and a white disposable jumpsuit given to prisoners, he stood with his hands behind his back as prosecutors presented charging documents to the court. Senior Judge Robert S. Tignor ordered the teenager held without bond.

According to the charging papers, two witnesses saw Boykin and Richardson engaged in a fistfight just before the shooting. The witnesses then saw Boykin draw a handgun from his coat pocket, fire repeatedly at Richardson and flee, the documents say. Prosecutors said Richardson was shot in the chest, arm and leg.

The shooting occurred about 10:30 a.m. near the school's cafeteria. Police said they still do not know how the handgun was brought into the school.

In the warrant issued for his arrest, Boykin was charged with first-degree murder. The lowering of the charge to second-degree murder suggests that prosecutors believe the shooting may not have been premeditated.

Winston Robinson, an assistant chief of police who oversees the part of Washington east of the Anacostia River, said that since September the two teenagers had had "a couple of run-ins," which he characterized as fistfights or pushing and shoving. Robinson said their fighting stemmed from a long-standing feud between teenagers from Barry Farm Dwellings, where Boykin lived, and the Condon Terrace neighborhood where Richardson lived.

Kia Lewis, 16, a friend of Boykin's, said that about 40 minutes before the shooting, she saw a group of students who live in Condon Terrace cursing and taunting Boykin.

Lewis said Boykin's problems intensified after youths from the two neighborhoods had a November fight inside Ballou that did not involve him but that resulted in the suspension or expulsion of a number of other students from Barry Farm. After that, the Condon Terrace students became more aggressive toward him, she said.

Lewis said that Boykin normally was a quiet person -- heavily interested in producing rap music -- who was preparing to graduate. She said that since the fall, Boykin had feared Richardson.

"He thought his life was in jeopardy from James," Lewis said.

Richardson's father, William Patterson, has said that his son told him last semester that he feared for his life.

Boykin's mother said her son was "a good boy" who had not been in trouble before. She said he was in a rap group that has produced CDs, and she pointed to a white flier for the group that was glued to a bank of mailboxes near the family's home.

"I'm sorry for that boy, and I'm sorry for my son," Boykin said of Richardson. "It's a tragedy for both families."

Tiffany Jones, 18, another Ballou student who was a friend of Boykin's, said he was regularly harassed by the Condon Terrace students. "James would make threats to him," Jones said.

She said she was too scared to return to Ballou. "I don't feel safe," she said. "I don't go anymore."

Attendance at Ballou remained low yesterday, according to students and adults who were in the school. Clarence Miles, a counselor with the Alliance of Concerned Men, an organization that mediates gang rivalries by teaching conflict resolution and that is working with Ballou students, estimated the attendance at less than half.

Administrators were telling parents that if they wanted to transfer their children out of Ballou, there were 250 openings in high schools citywide. Ralph Neal, an assistant superintendent, said he approved four requests for transfers Tuesday.

Students and parents also said that security at the school was much tighter and that guards were diligent in going through bags and in stopping anyone who set off the metal detector.

Sasha Walker, an 18-year-old senior and member of the varsity track team, described security as "way much better."

"They're doing their job," she said, adding that students without identification cards were turned away.

Staff writers Henri E. Cauvin, David A. Fahrenthold and Clarence Williams contributed to this report.