Judge Ronna Beck found probable cause Friday that Don Demichie Page Jr. and Wesley Monroe both participated in the shooting death of Quentin Lavar White. Page and Monroe remain held while a grand jury investigates the case.
In the early morning hours of June 22, police found White with a gunshot wound to the chest in the 3500 block of East Capitol Street Southeast. Emergency personnel transported White to a hospital where he later died from his injuries.
Page and Monroe were arrested in July on suspicion of first-degree murder while armed in connection with White’s death.
At their preliminary hearing Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Bradford said there are “no facts to indicate that [Page’s] actions were in defense of another or self-defense,” adding that Monroe should be charged on the basis that he “aided and abetted, specifically by inciting” the shooting.
Metropolitan Police Detective Robert Cephas testified Friday that he believes the argument that led to White’s death began after someone yelled “free Khari Williams,” and that the statement upset Monroe.
Cephas said that police believe Williams participated in a December 2012 shooting. Homicide Watch D.C.’s records list a Khari Natron Williams as a suspect in the 2012 shooting death of Angelo Alphonso Payne. After the hearing Friday, prosecutors would not confirm or deny whether the Williams mentioned by Cephas was the same person who allegedly shot Payne.
Charging documents related to Page and Monroe say that on June 22 a group of people were gathered outside in the 3500 block of East Capitol Street SE, when one of White’s friends and Monroe began to fight. Witnesses say White attempted to stop the fight.
A witness says Page then pulled out a large silver handgun and said, “Y’all not going to be jumping him,” referring to Monroe, and then fired the gun into the air. White then approached Page with his hands up in a fighting position and told Page to “fight him like a man,” according to arrest documents. The witness said Page told White he wasn’t going to fight then pointed the gun at him.
Detective Cephas testified that the witness was 10 feet away from the confrontation and heard Monroe incite Page to shoot, saying, “Bust him, bust that n—.”
Charging documents state that White replied, “You ain’t gonna shoot me, you b— a— n—.”
The witness told police he heard a gunshot and then watched White fall to the ground.
Detective Cephas testified that since the arrests he has spoken with a fourth witness who saw Page and Monroe leave the scene together in a light colored vehicle.
A fifth witness has come forward and said that Page was not on the scene that evening, Cephas testified. Cephas said, though, that detectives believe the witness is one of Page’s close friends.
The case is scheduled for a felony status conference on October 18.
