2 Brothers Were Shooting At Teens, Prosecutors Say

D.C. Men Charged With Murder in Death of 8-Year-Old

The brothers charged with killing 8-year-old Chelsea Cromartie told police that they were targeting two teenagers who were standing on the front porch of the home where the little girl was watching television, prosecutors said in court papers yesterday.

Raashed Hall and Ricardo Hall told police that they had repeatedly driven around the Northeast Washington neighborhood on the evening of May 3 before stopping in front of a house in the 800 block of 52nd Street, where they found the teenagers. Raashed Hall told detectives that he leaned across his brother and fired several shots out the driver's window at the teenagers, prosecutors stated.

The shots missed the teenagers and crashed through the living room window, hitting Chelsea in the head and the girl's aunt in the shoulder. Chelsea, her mother and 5-year-old brother were visiting the house where Chelsea's aunt, Darlene Taper, lived.

Raashed Hall, 21, was arrested Monday. His brother, 23, was taken into custody early yesterday. Both were charged with first-degree murder and gave detectives statements in which they vividly described an act of revenge gone awry.

Raashed Hall told police that the trouble began when he and his girlfriend were insulted by a group of teenagers outside a carryout restaurant on nearby Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue NE, prosecutors said. Hall said that his girlfriend pulled out a hammer during the confrontation but that the teenagers took it from her and used it to smash the windows of her car.

In charging papers, prosecutors quoted Hall as saying that he called his brother to tell him that he had been jumped and needed a "hammer" -- in this case, slang for a gun.

Both brothers told police that Ricardo Hall got a handgun and that they set off with their girlfriends in search of the teenagers, prosecutors said in charging papers.

"Ricardo Hall stated that he thought the plan was to locate the individuals, confront them, and scare them by shooting in the air," the charging documents said.

Prosecutors said the brothers dropped off their girlfriends and returned to the area where the confrontation had taken place.

D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey said the teenagers were standing on the front porch of Taper's house because one of them had a connection to the family.

Both brothers described fleeing the area, and Ricardo Hall told police that he got rid of the gun in a wooded area in Montgomery County. He also told police that he sold the car that he and his brother were driving that night. Police had not located the gun as of last night.

Ramsey said charges could be filed against those involved in the altercation that led to the gunfire and against anyone who may have misled investigators in the case. Police have said that as many as 10 people were involved in the carryout dispute.

Late yesterday afternoon, the Halls appeared in D.C. Superior Court for the first time since they were charged in the third-grader's death. The courtroom was packed, and the crowd included members of the Cromartie and Hall families and at least a dozen marshals and security officers.

Standing side-by-side behind their attorneys, Gladys Joseph and Fred Sullivan, the brothers said nothing as the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Cobb, asked that they be held without bond pending a hearing May 19. Magistrate Judge Hugh O. Stevenson granted the request, and both are being held at the D.C. jail.