Andre Jamal Wiggins | Homicide Watch DC

Terry Johnson Sentenced to 23 1/2 Years in Prison for Andre Wiggins' Death

Penny Ray — Wed, 08 May 2013 16:38:21 -0400

Judge Herbert Dixon sentenced Terry Johnson Wednesday to 23 and a half years in prison in connection with the shooting death of 19-year-old Andre Jamal Wiggins.

A jury convicted Johnson of second-degree murder and related weapons offenses in connection with the case in March.

Prosecutors argued that the months-long feud between Johnson and Wiggins centered around them dating the same woman, and culminated with Johnson fatally shooting Wiggins on October 26, 2011.

Several witnesses testified at trial that they knew that Wiggins and Johnson were “beefing” over the woman and had seen each of them driving the woman’s silver Infiniti truck.

According to grand jury testimony, Johnson told his mother that he was responsible for the shooting. She was charged with evidence tampering in the case and was acquitted.

A press release from the U.S. Attorney's office is below.

DISTRICT MAN SENTENCED TO 23 ½ YEARS IN PRISON IN 2011 SLAYING IN NORTHEAST WASHINGTON -DEFENDANT WAITED FOR VICTIM, THEN SHOT HIM IN AN ALLEY IN BROAD DAYLIGHT-

WASHINGTON - Terry Johnson, 23, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 23 ½ years in prison on charges stemming from a slaying that took place in 2011 in Northeast Washington, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.

Johnson was found guilty by a jury in March 2013, following a trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, of second-degree murder while armed and related weapons charges. He was sentenced by the Honorable Herbert B. Dixon, Jr. Upon completion of his prison term, Johnson will be placed on five years of supervised release.

According to the government's evidence, the murder took place at about 11:45 a.m. on Oct. 26, 2011 in the 5200 block of Clay Street NE. Johnson had an ongoing feud with the victim, Andre Wiggins, 19, in which the two men on multiple occasions ambushed and fired gunshots at one another. The feud stemmed from Mr. Wiggins's then current romantic relationship with Johnson's ex-girlfriend.

On Oct. 26, 2011, Johnson was told that Mr. Wiggins followed one of
Johnson's children and the mother of that child (not the woman at the
center of the feud) as they walked in the neighborhood. Johnson was
infuriated upon hearing this and promised to "take care of it." Johnson went to Mr. Wiggins's neighborhood, positioned himself in an alley, and waited for his arrival. Upon seeing Mr. Wiggins, Johnson who was armed and wearing a mask, ran him down, firing multiple times and leaving Mr. Wiggins dead in the street.

During the trial, the government presented cell tower records, text
messages, and other evidence linking Johnson to the murder. Among other things, the defendant threatened a jailhouse witness while en route to court in the final days of trial.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen praised those who
worked on the case, including detectives and officers from the
Metropolitan Police Department's Homicide Unit and Sixth Police
District. He also expressed appreciation to the FBI Special Agent who
worked on the case as well as those who handled the case for the U.S.
Attorney's Office, including Litigation Technology Specialists Leif
Hickling and Paul Howell; Victim Witness Security Specialist Katina
Adams; Victim Advocate Tamara Ince; Paralegal Specialists Kendra Johnson and Sandra Lane, and Investigator Durand Odom. Finally he acknowledged the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Reagan Taylor and Michelle Bradford, who prosecuted the case.

Terry Johnson Sentencing Memo (PDF)Terry Johnson Sentencing Memo (Text)

Jury Finds Terry Johnson Guilty in Shooting Death of Andre Wiggins

Sam Pearson — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 10:54:40 -0500

Terry Johnson was found guilty Friday of second-degree murder in connection with the fatal shooting of Andre Wiggins in Oct. 2011.

The jury began deliberating Friday and announced that they'd reached a verdict at the end of the day.

Jurors rejected prosecutor's request for a first-degree murder verdict, finding instead the lesser charge of second-degree murder. They also convicted Johnson of three weapons charges.

Johnson, prosecutors argued at trial, killed Wiggins in the culmination of a months-long feud over a woman they both dated.

Defense attorney James Whitehead argued that witnesses didn't see Johnson shoot Wiggins. Investigators never found the gun that was thought to have killed Wiggins.

Johnson is scheduled to be sentenced May 8 at 9:30 a.m. before Judge Herbert Dixon.

Johnson's mother, Shannon Johnson, was charged with evidence tampering as a co-defendant in the case. She was found innocent of that charge Friday.

Feud Over a Woman Sparked Death of Andre Wiggins, Prosecutors Say

Penny Ray — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 14:45:22 -0500

Many disagreements between friends are small: twenty dollars loaned, a meeting missed. The disagreement between Terry Johnson and Andre Wiggins could have been one of those fights, and maybe it was: The two young men liked the same woman. Both dated her.

According to prosecutors, that disagreement, that tension, sparked a feud that set Johnson and Wiggins against each other for months, chasing, threatening, and shooting at one another until Wiggins was dead.

But Johnson's defense attorneys say that this narrative, presented by prosecutors who have charged Johnson with first-degree murder, is wrong.

"The government's case is like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole," defense attorney James Whitehead told the jury. "It doesn't fit the evidence."

Whitehead argued that Johnson and Wiggins had settled their dispute during a five-minute phone call that occurred on the morning of Wiggins' death. Moreover, the weapon used to murder Wiggins was never recovered, and none of the witnesses positively identified Johnson as the shooter.

Johnson's trial this month, 16 months after Wiggin's death, ended with closing arguments Thursday. On Friday jurors were sent to deliberate on the testimony of more than 20 witnesses.

In her closing arguments, Assistant U.S. Attorney Reagan Taylor asked jurors to particularly remember the testimony of witnesses who spoke about the disagreement between Johnson and Wiggins.

“To really understand what happened, you have to go back several months,” she said, pointing to a period of time that witnesses said Johnson and Wiggins had dated Johnson's then-girlfriend at the same time.

“You don't have to imagine or speculate how this made Johnson feel,” Taylor said. “Everybody knew.”

At trial this month, several witnesses testified that they knew that Wiggins and Johnson were “beefing” over the woman and had seen each of them driving the woman's silver Infiniti truck.

One witness testified that in mid-Sept. 2011, just weeks before Wiggins was killed, the witness and Wiggins were in the Clay Terrace neighborhood of Northeast D.C. when they saw Johnson drive around the block. Upon seeing Johnson, Wiggins said that he was going to “shoot at Terry if he drove around the block again,” the witness told the court.

The witness testified that he "called his bluff" and gave Wiggins a gun. Wiggins put on a ski mask, and minutes later, as Johnson's Buick rounded the corner, Wiggins fired several shots into the car, the witness said.

Later, cell phone records show that Johnson may have texted a witness saying that he was "going to get shorty [Wiggins] when he can."

Another witness testified that while sitting on a bench in Marvin Gaye Park in late Sept. 2011, he saw Johnson jump out of a vehicle, pull a ski mask over his face, and then chase Wiggins through the park. Johnson, the witness said, was carrying a handgun with an extended clip. No shots were reported to have been fired in that instance.

The day Wiggins was killed, he was sitting on a porch with a woman when a male voice down the street yelled for Wiggins to join him, the woman testified in court. She said that Wiggins said, "Alright, here I come," and then walked towards Division Avenue Northeast.

The witness said that a few seconds later, as she turned to walk into the house, she heard a "POW."

She then heard several more "POWs," she said.

That shooting was recorded by a nearby residential security camera, and the video was shown to the jury during trial.

The video shows a man identified as Wiggins walking westbound in the 5200 block of Clay Street Northeast towards Division Avenue. Six seconds after Wiggins leaves the view of the camera, a single shot rings out. Wiggins is then seen running eastbound, with the shooter chasing him. Five more shots are fired before Wiggins falls face down on the pavement.

At trial, Dr. Russell Alexander, who examined Wiggins' body, said that Wiggins was struck by two bullets: one to his left leg just below his calf, and one near his left shoulder blade, injuring his left lung and aorta. Those wounds killed him, Alexander said.

A witness who lived nearby testified that shortly before noon the day of the shooting, she saw a man in an alley off Clay Street adjusting a ski mask. The witness testified that she watched the man for several minutes as he lingered behind a trashcan and then walked up Clay Street. She lost sight of him for about 20 seconds, heard gunshots, and then saw the man run back through the alley carrying a gun in his left hand.

Another witness told the grand jury prior to trial that on the day he was killed, Wiggins followed Johnson's young daughter as she walked to school with her mother.

The witness, who is the child's mother, said she dropped the child off at school, then walked to a friend’s house, where she met Shannon Johnson. When she told Johnson what had just happened, Johnson became "angry and upset" and called her son, Terry Johnson, the witness said.

The witness said Shannon Johnson also called Wiggins and told him to leave the child alone because the child "had nothing to do with this."

A few minutes later the witness received a call from Johnson telling her to pack some clothes and then never return to her apartment on Clay Street Northeast, according to grand jury testimony.

Later, when she went to her apartment to pack, she and Shannon Johnson saw that police had taped off the area.

According to the grand jury testimony, Shannon Johnson called Terry Johnson, her son, who told her, "I did it."

At trial, though, the witness recanted her testimony and said that she lied to the grand jury.

Johnson's mother, Shannon Johnson, is charged with evidence tampering related to her son's case. Prosecutors argued that she volunteered to speak with police concerning the homicide. After the interview, when police told her they were going to seize her cell phone as evidence, she broke the phone into two pieces, according to trial testimony.

But defense attorneys argued that although the government called over 20 witnesses, its case was based on assumption, speculation and gossip, and that Shannon Johnson broke her phone out of "anger and frustration" with police, who she thought were "messing with her."

Jury deliberations in the case began Friday morning.

Witness Testifies that Police Told Her to Implicate Terry Johnson in Andre Wiggins Murder

Penny Ray — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 19:24:00 -0500

A witness in the murder trial against Terry Johnson testified Thursday that police forced her to implicate Johnson for the murder of 19-year-old Andre Jamal Wiggins.

“They said that if I didn't tell them what they wanted to hear, they wouldn't allow me to see my child,” the witness testified. “I was scared for my child.”

Johnson and his mother, Shannon, are co-defendants in the case. Johnson is charged with first-degree murder and several firearms charges; his mother is charged with evidence tampering.

Prosecutors allege that Johnson and Wiggins had been having a long-time dispute, which centered around them dating the same woman. That dispute, they believe, culminated with Wiggins' death Oct. 26, 2011.

According to the witness's grand jury testimony, on the morning of Oct. 26 she saw Wiggins sitting in a silver Infiniti truck that was parked on Division Avenue Northeast, across the street from the witness's apartment. The truck, the witness said, belonged to Wiggins' friend, whom Johnson had also dated.

The witness testified to the grand jury that Wiggins followed her in the truck as she walked her daughter to school that morning. At one point, the witness said, Wiggins stopped the vehicle, rolled down the window, and stared at her for what seemed like five minutes.

The witness said that after dropping her daughter off, she then walked to a friend's house, and Shannon Johnson was there. When Shannon Johnson heard about what had just happened, she became “angry and upset,” the witness said.

In her grand jury testimony, the witness said that a short time later she overheard Shannon Johnson on the phone with Wiggins telling him to leave the child alone because “they had nothing to do with this.”

A few minutes later the witness received a call from Johnson telling her to pack some clothes and then never return to her apartment on Clay Street Northeast, according to grand jury testimony.

The witness testified that over the course of that afternoon several more calls were exchanged between Johnson, his mother, and the witness. The witness said that she and Shannon Johnson went to pick up her child from school, and had planned to then go to the witness's apartment to pack clothes, but by the time they reached Clay Street Northeast, the police had taped off the area.

Wiggins' body was found in the 5200 block of Clay Street NE, just down the street from his apartment.

The witness said that as she and Shannon Johnson were driving away from the scene of the incident, the mother decided to call Johnson.

During the conversation, Shannon Johnson asked her son what happened, and according to the witness's grand jury testimony, Johnson said, “I did it; it's okay.”

The witness said that Johnson also told them to “get the kids and never go back to the house.”

During trial Thursday, the witness refused to answer any of the prosecutor's questions, and at one point said, “everything you're asking is right there,” referring to the grand jury testimony being read in court.

Then the witness told the court that none of the things she said during her grand jury testimony were true and that she had lied to protect her child.

But prosecutors argued that her grand jury testimony was the exact same story that she had told police on the evening of the shooting; a video of her police interrogation was shown in court Thursday.

In the police interrogation video a detective asks the witness to recount the events of that day, and the witness begins speaking. While describing to detectives the phone conversation between Johnson and his mother, the witness says, “He said, 'I did it; just tell them it's done. I got it.'”

When the witness was asked Thursday why she made that statement, she testified that earlier in the interrogation police told her what to say.

Prosecutors then played the audio from the witness's grand jury testimony.

“Has anyone threatened you?” the prosecutor asks.

“No,” the witness replied.

“Has anyone told you what to say to the grand jury?”

“No.”

“Why are you testifying in front of the grand jury?” the prosecutor asks.

“Because it's the right thing to do,” the witness said.

The testimony Thursday came in the fourth day of the trial. The prosecution is expected to continue making their argument Monday.

Terry Johnson Held in Shooting Death of Andre Wiggins

Laura Amico — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 17:56:05 -0500

A "feud" between Andre Wiggins and Terry Johnson has killed one of the men and landed the other in jail.

Charging documents against Johnson state that a feud between the two had escalated the day Wiggins was killed, perhaps leading to his death.

According to witness statements included in the charging documents, Wiggins had followed Johnson's young child and another person in an SUV as they walked down the street on Oct. 26. That person told police they feared for their safety and said that they had contacted associates of Johnson's about the incident.

A short time later, Wiggins took a phone call. After, he told someone that the caller had accused him of following someone and warned him about being on specific streets in the neighborhood.

Video surveillance of the street where the shooting occurred shows Wiggins being chased down the street by an assailant with a gun. The assailant shoots, Wiggins falls, and the assailant flees.

Wiggins was pronounced dead at the scene of multiple gunshot wounds.

Johnson was ordered held this afternoon pending a preliminary hearing. His attorney, Premal Dharia, denied that there was cause to believe that Johnson was the person who shot Wiggins. She said inconsistincies in the witness' statements-- including what the shooter was wearing ans whether he was in a vehicle or on foot-- cast suspicion on the veracity of their claims.

Johnson is due in court again on Jan. 20 for a preliminary hearing with Judge Thomas Motley.

Read the charging documents below.

Terry Terrell Johnson Arrested in Shooting Death of Andre Wiggins

Laura Amico — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 21:22:20 -0500

Terry Terrell Johnson, a 22-year-old Southeast DC man, has been arrested on suspicion of first degree murder while armed in connection with the shooting death of Andre Wiggins.

Wiggins, 19, was killed on Oct. 26.

MPD announced Johnson's arrest Wednesday night. It was the fourth arrest made in a homicide case in approximately 31 hours. Three suspects: Anthony Speight, Andrew Williams and Harold Proctor were arrested Tuesday and appeared in court Wednesday. The cases are all unrelated.

Johnson is likely to appear in court Thursday.

Read MPD's press release below.

Arrest Made in the Homicide in the 5200 Block of Clay Street, NE

(Washington, DC)-Detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide Branch have announced that an arrest has been made in the fatal shooting which occurred in the 5200 block of Clay Street, NE.

On Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at approximately 11:54 am, Sixth District officers responded to the 5200 block of Clay Street, NE to investigate the report of a shooting. Upon their arrival, they located an adult male who was unconscious and unresponsive suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services personnel transported the victim to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead.

The decedent has been identified as 19 year-old Andre Wiggins of Northeast, Washington, DC.

On Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at approximately 4:55 pm, members of the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested 22-year-old Terry Terrell Johnson of Southeast, Washington, DC, pursuant to a DC Superior Court arrest warrant charging him with First Degree Murder while Armed.

Street Memorials: Demetrius Thompson, Andre Wiggins and Antonio Headspeth

Laura Amico — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 15:27:10 -0500

Washington's Other Monuments has photos of street memorials for recent homicide victims Demetrius Thompson, Andre Wiggins and Antonio Headspeth.

See more photos at Washington's Other Monuments.

Man Shot, Killed in NE DC Wednesday Afternoon

Laura Amico — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:26:09 -0400

A man was killed Wednesday afternoon after being shot in Northeast DC, the Washington Post reports.

MPD identified the victim as Andre Wiggins, a 19-year-old Northeast DC man.

He had been shot multiple times, said MPD authorities.

Read MPD's press release below.

October 26, 2011

Homicide: 5200 Block of Clay Street, NE

(Washington, DC)-Detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide Branch are investigating the fatal shooting which occurred in the 5200 block of Clay Street, NE.

On Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at approximately 11:54 am, Sixth District officers responded to the 5200 block of Clay Street, NE to investigate the report of a shooting. Upon their arrival, they located an adult male who was unconscious and unresponsive suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services personnel transported the victim to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead.

The decedent has been identified as 19 year-old Andre Wiggins of Northeast, Washington, DC.

Anyone with information about this case is asked to call the police at (202) 727-9099 or 1-888-919-CRIME (1-888-919-2746).

The Metropolitan Police Department currently offers a reward of up to $25,000 to anyone that provides information which leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons wanted for any homicide committed in the District of Columbia.
Additionally, anonymous information may be submitted to DC CRIME SOLVERS at 1-800-673-2777 and to the department’s TEXT TIP LINE by text messaging 50411. If the information provided by the caller to the Crime Solvers Unit leads to an arrest and indictment, that caller will be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000.