Who's Minding Troubled Youths?

Excerpts from an Oct. 9 police statement filed in the Criminal Division of D.C. Superior Court:

"Officers Parker and Campanale heard several sounds of gunshots coming from the top of the hill" near the 4800 block of Benning Road SE. "They observed two suspects coming down the hill firing handguns back toward the top of the hill."

Defendant No. 1 "was behind the wheel of a vehicle awaiting the return of [Defendant No. 2] and the unknown third suspect. D-2 then got in the rear . . . and the unknown third suspect got in the passenger seat."

A chase ensued.

"The vehicle traveled into the 4400 block of F St. S.E. at which point D-2 and the unknown suspect began firing their weapons at Officers Parker and Campanale. The vehicle drove onto numerous sidewalks and yards as they attempted to . . . escape."

After the vehicle, which was confirmed as stolen, came to a halt, the suspects fled.

Officer Campanale apprehended the first suspect; the third suspect escaped.

Defendant No. 2, caught in the 4400 block of F Street SE, suffered a gunshot wound to the buttocks.

A Bersa semiautomatic handgun was recovered from a dumpster directly in the path of the first defendant. A canvass of the area where two of the three had initially been seen shooting revealed that several vehicles had been struck by bullets. Many shell casings were also recovered.

In an interview with a detective, Defendant No. 1 said that he had seen the police being fired on from the stolen vehicle, but he "would not say which suspect was the firing gunman."

Defendant No. 2 was identified as a 17-year-old who had run away from the Oak Hill Youth Center, operated by the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services.

Thanks to Fox 5 reporter Paul Wagner, who broke this story last week, more is known about the 17-year-old runaway.