The right side of the courtroom was crowded with “Justice for Darius” t-shirts, worn by the family members and friends of 16-year-old Darius Cannon, who was killed in a Southeast DC shooting last April.
Dion Redwood, 39, is being charged with first-degree murder in connection with Cannon’s death. Redwood appeared in court today for a preliminary hearing before Judge Rhonda Winston, who recessed the hearing after less than an hour of testimony.
Detective Kenniss Weeks described the interviews she conducted with an eye witness to the shooting.
The night of the shooting, the eye witness was in a parking lot some 25 to 30 feet away, according to charging documents and Weeks’ testimony. The witness heard the two gunshots, saw Cannon fall to the ground and watched as the shooter ran away from the scene.
The witness gave police a detailed description of the shooter, including his clothing, approximate height, build, complexion and hair cut.
Shortly after midnight on April 7, 2013, Police responded to a report of a shooting at 2726 Langston Place Southeast, where they found an unconscious and unresponsive Cannon laying on the sidewalk with a gunshot wound to the chest. He was transported to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead.
Witnesses, surveillance videos and cell phone records placed Redwood at the scene of the crime, charging documents say.
Investigators believe they’ve found a possible motive: On April 5, two days before Cannon’s death, Redwood was involved in another incident at the same location. Redwood was allegedly visiting his child’s mother, who lives at the complex, when he was confronted by three black males, one of whom was 16.
According to prosecutors, Redwood had a verbal altercation with the three men in a hallway outside the home, and one of the men stabbed Redwood in the eye with what he described as a kitchen knife.
Police verified the incident with medical records and video surveillance. They also seized an Instagram photo posted on Redwood’s account where he is seen wearing a white rag over his right eye.
The hearing is scheduled it to continue Monday at 10:00 a.m.
Charging documents are embedded below:
