Metropolitan Police Department (DC Police / MPD)

Teen Killed Near NoMa Metro Station Had Tried to Protect Friend: Documents

"My son was murdered trying to break up the fight, and these wiley goons then murdered my son"

A 16-year-old boy stabbed to death in D.C.'s NoMa neighborhood earlier this month was attacked after he tried to protect a friend, court documents say. 

Tyshon Perry, a 10th-grader, died May 1 after he was stabbed multiple times near the NoMa-Galludet Metro station. He was an honor student at KIPP DC College Preparatory.

On Wednesday, police announced they made two arrests in his death.

Demonte Hewitt, 16, and Kurt Hewitt, 18, were charged with second-degree murder while armed on Tuesday, D.C. police chief Peter Newsham said at a news conference.

Both young men -- cousins -- will be charged as adults. They already were in the D.C. jail on unrelated charges, and did not go to Perry's school.

Perry was stabbed as a large group of teenagers were involved in a fight near the NoMa Metro station in Northeast D.C, the police chief said. 

"It looks like there was a dispute that occurred at the school earlier in the day," Newsham said.  

Perry's family was in court Wednesday as the Hewitt cousins were charged. The killing was "senseless," the victim's father, Shonpaul Perry, said. 

"My son was murdered trying to break up the fight, and these wily goons then murdered my son," Paul said. 

According to court documents, the trouble began with an argument between a boy and girl at KIPP DC College Preparatory. The girl said she would get her "hood boys" to defend her at the school. After school, near the Metro station, the boy was approached by the girl and four males. One of them had a gun. 

Perry jumped in to try to protect the boy, who was a friend, the documents say. Then, the males pistol-whipped him, stabbed him, kicked him and left him for dead. 

The manager of a nearby Five Guys restaurant previously told News4 she and her coworkers saw the fight.

"The group of kids were fighting, so we all ran to the window to see what was going on, and one of the little boys just collapsed to the ground, and a young man kicked him in the head, and he didn't get back up. So everybody thought, like, maybe he was knocked out or something," Emmoni Thomas said. "I went out there to see what was going on, and he was covered in blood."

Police were called to the scene about 4:30 p.m. May 1, after multiple 911 calls were placed. The teens involved in the fight ran away before officers arrived. 

Perry was rushed to a hospital in critical condition and pronounced dead.

A promising teen's life is over because of "something stupid," Perry's father said. 

After the crime, posts on Instagram warned students not to tell police what they saw. Some used the hashtag #DontTellOnMe, court documents say.

The investigation is ongoing.

Perry was a straight-A student and dreamed of becoming the first African-American FBI director.

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