DC jury returns guilty verdicts for two gang members in 2018 murder of 10-year-old girl
Two gang members involved in the 2018 death of 10-year-old Makiyah Wilson were found guilty on murder charges in a D.C. Superior Court on Tuesday.
makiyah wilson
Assistant D.C. Police Chief Chanel Dickerson said the suspects fired “indiscriminately,” killing 10-year-old Makiyah Wilson and wounding four adults. (Courtesy NBC Washington)
A jury found Mark Price, 30, and Antonio Murchison, 31, guilty of first-degree murder while armed among other charges, according to officials. The two men were part of the “Wellington Park Crew,” a gang based in Southeast D.C., that opened fire on the apartment complex Wilson lived in with her family.
The jury also found Quanisha Ramsuer, 31, guilty of obstruction of justice in connection to the case. Ramsuer knew the shooters and interacted with them minutes before the shooting, but refused to identify the men to authorities.
“Despite the obvious familiarity, Ramsuer steadfastly refused to identify the individuals with whom she was interacting in the video, resulting in the charge of obstruction of justice,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. wrote in a news release.
Sentencing hearings for the three are scheduled for Dec. 13.
On Monday, July 16, 2018, the suspects indiscriminately fired toward a crowd of people at a Northeast D.C. apartment courtyard, prosecutors said, striking and killing Wilson near the front stoop of her home and wounding four adults, including her older sister. Authorities said the shooting was the result of a running feud between rival street gangs, and had escalated over social media posts.
Price, who was the driver in the case, stopped the car in the Clay Terrace neighborhood so three other men who were armed, including Murchison, could exit the vehicle. They began to open fire into the courtyard, spraying over 50 bullets in under a minute.
In court, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lindsey Merikas described the harrowing moments when the four masked gunmen jumped out — one armed with an assault rifle — and began “pummeling that court with gunfire.”
In total, nine people have been charged or found guilty in the case: Mark Price, Antonio Murchison, Isaiah Murchison, Marquell Cobbs, Darrise Jeffers, Quentin Michals, Gregory Taylor and Qujuan Thomas.
Wilson’s mother, Donnetta Wilson, testified in court last year on the first day of the murder and gang conspiracy trial: “Makiyah was an angel.”