Why was a teen murder suspect on DC streets after earlier shooting charges were dropped?

WASHINGTON (7News) — A teen suspect arrested in a June homicide in Southwest Washington had just months before faced charges for allegedly pointing a gun at people outside a library and opening fire – but prosecutors had decided not to move forward with the case.

On December 23 of last year, police believe Jeremiah Evans pointed a gun at two people and opened fire in front of the Southwest Library in DC, not hitting anyone.

Court records indicate Evans was a member of a violent crew based out of the Greenleaf Gardens neighborhood in Southwest DC called NRA – No Rats Allowed.

He was arrested months later and charged in March on two counts including unlawfully firing a gun, but eventually in May the U.S. Attorney’s Office indicated it would not prosecute, and court records don’t say why.

On Wednesday 7 News reached out to the U.S. Attorney's Office to find out why the decision not to prosecute was made. As of Thursday morning they had not yet told us the reason.

Then on June 15, less than a block from where he’d been accused of firing the gun outside the Southwest Library in December, court records say the 19 year old Evans allegedly killed another teen in Southwest Washington at Greenleaf Gardens, shooting at him multiple times. The homicide happened in a parking area in the 200 block of K Street SW.

7 News learned that because the two charges Evans faced for allegedly firing the gun near the library – for unlawful discharge and unlawful possession of a firearm – were misdemeanors, the court would not likely have held him in detention pre-trial even if prosecutors had decided to move forward with the case.

In July the DC Council voted to temporarily create a felony for recklessly firing a weapon in public, but that was too late to apply to Evans’s case. It’s possible had the charge been a felony earlier this year that Evans would have been held in custody pending trial.

RELATED:Person of interest wanted after Akira Wilson found shot dead in NE hotel room: Police

Per court records, the 18-year-old man Evans is charged with killing – Khalliqo Ford – was a suspect in the November 19, 2022 homicide of 18 year old Akira Wilson. Wilson was a student at Jackson-Reed High School in DC who was shot and killed inside a hotel room at the Hilton Garden Inn in Northeast Washington.