Two DC men accused of boarding a Metro bus and fatally shooting a passenger have pled innocent to the charges against them.
Vincent Gray and Delron Atchison were arraigned in court Friday. They are charged with first degree murder while armed, assault with a dangerous weapon, and weapons charges.
At the arraignment Prosecutor Michael Liebman told the court that there are additional co-defendants in the case who were not named in the indictment. MPD has only announced the arrests of Atchison and Gray in connection with the case.
Charging documents in the case alleged that Gray and Atchison boarded the bus at 2125 Alabama Avenue Southeast in search of Demetrius Emmanuel Thompson.
A bus passenger told police that when Gray boarded the bus he said, “I ain’t getting on the bus, I’m just trying to see if someone was on the bus.”
Then he was reported to have said, “Yo, get off the bus. Don’t make me have to cause a scene on the bus.”
Video surveillance from the bus shows both men boarding. The charging documents describe the video this way:
[Gray] and [Atchison] quickly walk together to the back of the bus towards [Thompson].
[Thompson] is observed getting up from his seat and looking indecisive as he appears he wants to run, but has nowhere to go. [Atchison], who is walking in front of [Gray], is observed holding a silver and black semi automatic pistol.
[Thompson] is observed trying to hide on the seat behind a Plexiglass barrier where another passenger is seated.
As [Thompson] is trying to hide, [Atchison] is pointing the gun at him and [Gray] is directly behind and within inches of [Atchison]. [Thompson] appears to be shot and then falls to the ground. Both suspects then flee from the bus through the rear doors.
While the charging documents only make out the case for one assault (Thompson’s murder), the indictment names three other victims. The indictment states that assaults against those people also occurred on Oct. 20. Atchison is charged with one count of assault with a dangerous weapon for each of those three victims. Gray is not charged with those crimes.
Read the indictment below.
