The Southeast DC man arrested after a nearly eight-hour-long standoff with police Wednesday has said he did fire a gun at J’Ron Lamar Brown, once, at the urging of a neighbor.
Brown, 24, was fatally shot at about 2 a.m. Wednesday.
Derrick Babb was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder while armed in connection with the case later that day. He was ordered held pending a preliminary hearing on the charge today.
According to charging documents in the case, Brown may have armed himself before being killed. One witness told police that just before 2 a.m. Brown came home with a bloody lip and was upset about an altercation. The witness said Brown said he was going to “handle his business,” then he put on latex gloves, armed himself with a sawed-off pump style shotgun, and drove away on a red scooter.
When Brown arrived at the 17th Street Southeast apartment complex where he was ultimately killed, he approached a group of people and asked, “Who wants some of this work?” and then fired his gun into the hallway.
Police have evidence of eight gunshots, seven of them in rapid succesion and one less than a minute later.
Babb, in an interview with police, said he did shoot Brown, once, after he heard gunshots. According to charging documents, Babb said he was inside when he heard gunshots early Wednesday morning. When he looked out to investigate he saw a wheelchair-bound person holding a gun. Babb said he went outside to wheel that person inside, but that instead, at that person’s suggestion, he took the gun and fired at Brown.
The wheelchair-bound person told police that they didn’t have a gun, but that they were too intoxicated to remember any details of the incident.
A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for July 13 with Judge Thomas Motley.
