Larnell C. Allen and Kwan Kearney were charged last week with first degree murder in the shooting death of 17-year-old Springarn High School student Joseph Alonzo Sharps Jr.
They were identified by Sharps’ friend who was shot along with Sharps but survived.
The friend told police that he and Sharps were crossing Neal Street in D.C.’s Trinidad neighborhood when they were confronted by three men, according to the criminal complaints against Allen and Kearney. The complaint alleges Kearney asked the teens “Are you reaching? Are you reaching?” then “pulled out a handgun” and began shooting at them.
The injured teen identified Allen in a photo array as being with Kearney at the shooting. According to the complaint, he told police of Allen, “I see him, number 6. He was just there, he didn’t do nothing. But I fell to the ground and really don’t know what he did.”
In an interview with Metro PD Detective Anthony Paci on Nov. 26, Allen waived his Miranda Rights and, according to the complaint, “admitted that he pointed the gun in [Sharps’] general direction but he did not know if his shots struck [Sharps] or not.”
Allen and Kearney are due in court Dec. 10 at 9:30 a.m. for preliminary hearings. The third man who was with them at the time of the shooting has not been identified and Metro Police have only announced two arrests in the case.
