Charge Filed In Ballou Drive-By

Police Say Teen Was Assigned to D.C. Social Worker

A 17-year-old from Southeast Washington who was supposed to be under the watch of the city's youth services agency was charged yesterday with shooting four students from Ballou Senior High School last month.

Deidrick Johnson already was in custody on charges stemming from another shooting, a Jan. 11 drive-by attack that injured five people in Southeast. The gunfire near Ballou took place Jan. 22. It was also a drive-by, also in the afternoon.

"Nine young people were shot," Mayor Adrian M. Fenty said at a news conference announcing the latest charges. "That means 10 young people who should have been doing high school things: academics, athletics, preparing for college. Instead, they were getting shot or shooting."

The brazen violence caused particular outrage among District officials and community leaders because of the large number of young people who were hit. No one was killed in either of the shootings. All four Ballou students were 16 years old. They were wounded on Fourth Street SE just after classes let out. The victims from the Jan. 11 shooting, in the 2800 block of Douglass Road SE, range in age from 17 to 20.

Johnson was arrested in the Douglass Road drive-by a day after the Ballou attack. Authorities said that once he was in custody, witnesses emerged who said he was the gunman outside Ballou. He is charged as an adult in both shootings.

In the Ballou case, Johnson was charged with one count of assault with intent to murder, and police expect additional charges. A hearing is scheduled Monday in D.C. Superior Court.

Three sources familiar with Johnson's case, speaking on condition of anonymity because of youth confidentiality rules, said he had a troubled past.

He was placed in the Oak Hill juvenile detention facility in September 2004 for offenses that included assault, sexual abuse and unlawful entry, the sources said. He was released from Oak Hill but, since December 2006, was supposed to be monitored monthly by a social worker from the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services. An investigation by the agency determined that he was not monitored in the 11 months before the shootings.

Johnson's social worker and the social worker's supervisor have been dismissed by Vincent N. Schiraldi, the agency's director. At the time of the firings, Schiraldi said the workers -- who were not identified -- were fired for "gross neglect of duties."

Schiraldi declined to comment yesterday on the Johnson case but said the department has created safeguards to ensure that social workers are meeting with youths assigned to them. Those changes were made in November, he said, before the drive-bys in which Johnson is charged.

Schiraldi began requiring social workers to meet twice a month -- as opposed to monthly -- with their youths. He also put a computer system in place that alerts supervisors if those meetings don't occur. Schiraldi said he has reduced the number of cases per social worker to 25. Some had been carrying up to 45 cases.

In light of the failures reportedly found in Johnson's case, Schiraldi ordered a review of 300 youth cases to assess their level of monitoring by social workers. That review is scheduled to be completed by Monday.