Kwan Kearney is awaiting trial in two separate murders in November 2010: Joseph Alonzo Sharps Jr. on Nov. 8 and Jamal Demetrius Wilson on Nov. 14.
His brother, Eric Kearney, also known as Tay, was supposed to be a witness for the defense in one of those cases, but he was shot and killed on Oct. 17 near Truxton Circle.
Prosecutors believe Eric Kearney’s death is tied to his brother’s case. Not because he was a witness, but because he may have accused another man of being an informant.
“Tay is going around telling everybody I’m snitching on Kwan’s case,” a man identified as “Witness 5” told homicide investigators.
Prosecutors say Ray Allen Dicks killed Eric Kearney over that rumor.
“I handled that Tay situation,” Dicks told Witness 5, while visiting DC Jail last month, another inmate told investigators.
Dicks was arrested Tuesday and presented with the first-degree murder charge Wednesday. He’s due in court November 23—the day before Thanksgiving—for a preliminary hearing.
Charging documents in the case allege that Dicks shot at Eric Kearney because he had heard that Eric Kearney was saying that when that alleged “snitch” was released from jail and came home, that he shouldn’t “come to the block.”
According to charging documents, a witness to the shooting said the shooter was standing in the 1600 block of Lincoln Road NE when Eric Kearney rode past on his bike. The shooter fired a shot at Kearney’s back, and Kearney jumped from the bike and ran with the shooter in pursuit. Three more shots were fired at Kearney’s back, the witness said.
An autopsy, the report of which was included in the charging documents, concluded that Kearney had three gunshot wounds, two of which were to his chest. The wounds were fatal, the report concluded.
Read the charging documents below.
