A D.C. youth charged in the shooting of Washington Commanders running back Brian Robinson Jr. during an attempted robbery in August is also charged in the October fatal shooting of a 15-year-old who police say was targeted as he sat on a porch near a Northeast Washington elementary school, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The people familiar with the matter confirmed that the teen, now 15, was charged in both cases after he appeared for a Tuesday hearing in D.C. Superior Court in connection with the Oct. 13 fatal shooting of Andre Robertson Jr. Judge Robert A. Salerno ordered him to remain in custody after a social worker recommended the youth be held because of his connection to at least one other case, without specifying the nature of that case.
The people familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity because both ongoing investigations involve juveniles, said the 15-year-old had also been charged in connection with Robinson’s shooting. Police have said previously that two people tried to rob the running back as he left a storefront in the 1000 block of H Street NE shortly before 6 p.m. on Aug. 28. Police said the player was able to “wrestle a firearm away” from one of the two male assailants, before the other shot him.
On Nov. 4, police announced that they had charged a 15-year-old with murder in Robertson’s slaying, and arrested a 15-year-old in the shooting of the Commanders running back — though they did not make clear it was the same person.
D.C. leaders have decried youth violence in the city. D.C. Police Chief Robert J. Contee III, for example, called Robinson’s shooting “yet another case of a juvenile with an illegal gun.”
“Enough is enough,” Contee said. “We have to keep guns out of the hands of the youth in our city.”
The 15-year-old — who was 14 at the time of both shootings — is not the sole suspect in either incident, and his alleged role in both was not immediately clear. Police also charged a 13-year-old in connection with Robertson’s killing. And they charged a 17-year-old in connection with the shooting and wounding of Robinson, who has since returned to playing for the Commanders. That 17-year-old was previously charged in a separate fatal shooting in March at a Prince George’s County mall, though he was later released because of a lack of evidence, according to the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office.
At the court hearing Tuesday in connection with Robertson’s killing, family members of defendants in that case and in Robinson’s shooting had logged on to the remote access video screen at the same time, sparking some confusion.
Court officials said the hearing for those charged in Robinson’s shooting would follow the hearing for those charged in Robertson’s killing. The Washington Post was allowed to attend only the initial hearing for those charged in Robertson’s killing, on the condition that the identities of the teens involved would not be made public because they were charged as juveniles and not as adults.
A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office declined to comment, saying that laws designed to protect children’s privacy prohibited her from releasing any information. The public defender’s office did not respond to requests for comment.