Crime
A 17-year-old girl took to Instagram to brag about allegedly killing a 14-year-old girl
A 17-year-old from Washington has been charged as an adult shooting of 14-year-old Niko Estep within the Columbia Heights neighborhood on November 3. According to , Lorenzo Thompson shot Estep while his mother stood behind him and watched.
Three days after the shooting, Thompson bragged on Instagram Live that he had killed Estep. The warrant obtained by the police shows that the officers considered Żywo the actions of a one that didn’t regret the act of taking his life. “The defendant shows no remorse during this broadcast and (he) appears to be celebrating with the others, showing someone turning to run and then collapsing after being shot.”
Police haven’t determined a motive for the shooting right now, but they’ve now charged Thompson with second-degree armed murder, which is a crime under the District of Columbia Code that carries a minimum advisable sentence of 30 years and a maximum of life in prison. Another teenager was wounded within the shooting, but police say there was no other goal besides Estep.
Surveillance footage from the gas station shows a person, whom police identified as Thompson, reaching into his jacket and pulling out a gun, which he points at several people riding scooters in front of him. Officers say he fired no less than 12 rounds from a 9mm handgun in about seven seconds, a few of which hit Estep and one other person on the scooters. According to the findings, a woman with red braids was seen leaving the scene on a scooter in the identical direction as Thompson left. The warrant says a detective identified the girl with red braids as Thompson’s mother.
Police said they searched the apartment where Thompson and his mother live and located 9 mm magazines in a backpack belonging to Thompson, but were unable to locate the weapon. The video shows the pair entering the apartment about eight minutes apart. Thompson entered the apartment first at 11:39 p.m. Police have made several attempts to contact Thompson’s family, including his mother, but have to this point been unsuccessful. Thompson is currently detained and awaits a hearing scheduled for November 16. Washington is currently scuffling with a wave of juvenile and youth crime in the town. Many young people and teenagers are killed or arrested for violent crimes resembling murder or automotive theft. In the primary 9 months of 2023, there have been 458 arrests of minors for violent crimes.
On November 13, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a state of emergency over the violence and opioid epidemic, telling reporters at a news conference: “This number alone tells us that we need to provide more intervention to children who are in trouble,” Bowser said.
“To that end, this emergency will enable us to more quickly and efficiently increase placements across the continuum of judicial placements.”