Mother Describes Night Her Son Was Killed

Prosecutors: Murder ultimately led to S. Capitol St. mass shooting

The mother of a man whose death prompted one of the most violent attacks in D.C. history got the chance to tell her story in court Thursday.

Fighting back tears, Diane Howe took the stand in D.C. Superior Court to tell what happened the night of her son’s death.

Jordan Howe, a 20-year-old aspiring pro boxer, was killed in March 2010 over missing costume jewelry his killer mistakenly believed he had something to do with, prosecutors said. Charged in his murder is childhood friend Sanquan Carter.

“There were a lot of gunshots,” Diane Howe said in court. “It was loud, like a war was going on. I went to the car where Jordan was. He looked incoherent. I was telling Jordan, ‘Don’t leave me, Jordan. Promise you won’t leave me.’”

Jordan Howe was killed in that shooting, and two others were injured. The next day, friends of Howe shot and wounded Carter’s brother Orlando Carter, prosecutors said.

Orlando Carter soon began plans for revenge, which came a week later on March 30, 2010, the day of Jordan Howe’s funeral, prosecutors said. After the funeral, Orlando Carter and others allegedly opened fire on a group of mourners on South Capitol Street in SE, killing four more people, in an attempt to kill as many of Jordan Howe’s friends as they could, prosecutors said.

Five people were killed and nine wounded in eight days.

“Innocent people being gunned down on South Capitol Street,” D.C. Councilman Marion Barry said outside court. “You’ve got to feel because they’re my constituents. I feel it even more because I feel I have to do as much as I can to stop that from happening again.”

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