What to Know
- An 18-year-old has been charged with fatally stabbing 15-year-old John Rufus Evans III in the Deanwood Metro station.
- Another 15-year-old boy, Davonte Washington, was shot and killed in the same Metro station less than three weeks ago.
- D.C. police will step up patrols of Metro stations, the assistant police chief said.
An 18-year-old man has been charged in connection with the stabbing death of a 15-year-old boy inside the Deanwood Metro station in Northeast D.C.
Jovante Hall, 18, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder while armed after John Rufus Evans III was stabbed to death on Monday, Metropolitan Police Department officials and Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Tuesday morning.
Hall, of Northwest D.C., was arrested Monday night after police received tips and reviewed surveillance footage.
"There are cameras all over our system," Bowser said at a news conference Tuesday morning. "Any incident like this is going to be caught on tape."
It was not clear if Hall is the young man shown in surveillance images police publicized Monday.
MTPD units are o/s at Deanwood for a stabbing. Trains temporarily bypassing the station in both directions. An update will follow. #wmata
— Metro Transit Police (@MetroTransitPD) April 11, 2016
Terogie Wells, Evans mother, said she doesn't recognize Hall, but she heard he was out to get her son.
"I heard his name from my daughter about wanting to fight my son," Wells said. "This was about two weeks ago."
Police will step up patrols of Metro, Assistant Police Chief Peter Newsham said.
"We are 100 percent going to have more police presence out there to alleviate these concerns," he said, noting, however, he was not sure police could have prevented the killing.
Evans' death comes less than three weeks after another teenager was fatally shot on the platform of the same Metro station.
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Evans and his mother moved to Richmond to get away from their previous neighborhood in Northeast D.C., Wells said. The 15-year-old, who previously attended Richard Wright Public Charter School, had returned to D.C. on Monday for a court appearance.
"I was sick, and I couldn't take him to his appointment," Wells said. "He came up, hugged and kissed me, and said he'd be back. I just wish I would have went with him."
The teenager was stabbed after he passed through a fare gate and headed toward an escalator. A Metro Transit Police performed CPR on Evans, Assistant Police Chief Peter Newsham said.
The teen was rushed to a hospital, where he died, police said.
Police believe Evans and Hall had an ongoing dispute and ran into each other in the Metro station by chance, Newsham said.
Another 15-year-old boy, Davonte Washington, was fatally shot on the platform of the Deanwood station March 26 after another teen approached him and asked why he was looking at him, witnesses told police. Washington was headed to get a haircut for Easter with his mother and sisters.
Former Mayor Vincent Gray, who is running for the Ward 7 seat on the D.C. Council, spoke Monday about violence.
"It used to be people solved problems with their fists," he said. "Now that seems to be passe now. Now it seems to be either a knife or a gun, and the consequences are absolutely deadly."
