Troubled Past Catches Up to Young Man in Robbery Attempt

Four days before he was shot to death, John C. Watts sat in a posh Georgetown restaurant, worlds away from the Southeast Washington housing complex where he had grown up.

"This place is nice," the burly 18-year-old told his boss, Ahmad Braxton-Jones, an advisory neighborhood commissioner who tries to show at-risk youths a part of the city they might not otherwise experience.

Watts, who was working for Braxton-Jones in the city's summer jobs program, had spent the previous two weeks getting a look at local businesses by meeting with their owners. That night at Paolo's Ristorante, on July 21, Watts had other things weighing on his mind. Mostly, he needed money.

He was angry that his job had not paid him all of the $400 he was owed, Braxton-Jones said. Watts was ambitious, self-supporting and in need of quick cash.

"He was annoyed he wasn't getting paid," Braxton-Jones said. "He wanted to make money. I don't know what happened, if it wasn't enough or what."

Ultimately, Watts could not separate himself from the "street life," Braxton-Jones said. "It's hard to escape that."

On July 25, Watts was dead, shot five times in what police said was a failed robbery attempt of an off-duty Prince George's County police officer. Cpl. William M. Peaco, the 22-year member of the force who shot Watts, is on administrative leave with pay pending an investigation.

Police said two armed men tried to rob Peaco about 3:45 a.m. in the parking lot of a Suitland apartment complex near Andrews Air Force Base, about seven miles from Watts's neighborhood. The second suspect, who fled the scene, has not been identified; an investigation into the shooting is ongoing, Cpl. Stephen Pacheco said.

Since Watts's death, friends and relatives have wondered what more they could have done to help him.

"I told him it was either prison or death," his sister, Monica Watts, said last week at a candlelight vigil for her brother in their Woodland Terrace neighborhood. "He thought I was kidding."

Watts was one of seven children of Cynthia Watts. He spent much of his time living with Robin Knight, his court-appointed guardian. He also served time in juvenile corrections facilities and had been released from one last winter.

A friend, Raymar Harris, 18, said Watts played sandlot football and hung out with a crew known as the Lench Mob, which often fights with another crew, Choppa City.