A 16-year-old boy has been arrested in the killing of an eighth grader this month at the Brookland Metro station, D.C. police confirmed.
The victim, 14-year-old Avion Evans, attended Ida B. Wells Middle School. He was on his way to an after-school program the afternoon of April 4 when he was fatally shot after stopping to talk with a friend at the Metro station, the victim's mother, India Wells, told News4.
The suspect was arrested Tuesday morning. A judge ordered him detained until his next court appearance Friday, finding probable cause on six charges, including second-degree murder while armed.
Police say Evans was killed after someone pulled out a gun and fired into a small crowd of teens who were fighting on the platform at the Brookland station. Security officers were on the platform when Evans was shot and were able to get other riders to safety, Metro Transit Police Deputy Chief Maurice McKinney said.
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Medics rushed Evans to a hospital, but he didn't survive.
D.C. police quickly released a few photos of the suspect, and someone who recognized him called 911 and gave his name and where he goes to school, prosecutors said. Investigators used Metro card registration information to track the suspect's travels that day.
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Evans' mother said her son was not someone who got into many fights, so she keeps asking the same question.
"Losing my son to violence? My son wouldn’t harm nobody," she said. "Now he would defend himself, but, you know, he was a sweet kid. He was very smart, intelligent, very debative. A little bit arrogant," she added with a rueful chuckle. "Just keeping it real, but he was a good kid."
She has looked at the photos of the suspected shooter but said she doesn’t recognize him.
Police say the gunman and all the other teens on the platform ran after he opened fire.
"To pull out guns and to think that it's OK to take somebody off this Earth — like, you don’t know what you're taking from a family?" Wells said. "Put the shoe on the other foot. What if that’s your family? You have to think about your brother, your mom, your sister, like — anything can happen, so you've got to come to your senses and think before you act."
Wells said Avion loved to run track, work with computer graphics and debate.
Wells said Avion had recently lost two of his brothers. When asked about the circumstances, she said she wasn't ready to talk about what happened.
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