The man who police say fired into the housing complex courtyard where a 16-year-old girl was shot and killed the day after Thanksgiving was forbidden from owning a gun, officials say.
Saeve Evans, 30, turned himself in to police Tuesday night after he was wanted in connection to the death of 16-year-old Breyona McMillian.
"He came in, he spoke to one of our detectives, then our homicide detective attempted to interview him," Interim Police Chief Peter Newsham told News4 on Wednesday. "Whether or not he's going to cooperate, time will tell."
Evans was arraigned Wednesday. News4's Mark Segraves was first to report Tuesday night that he was in police custody.
McMillian died after she was shot multiple times Friday morning on the 1200 block of I Street SE, near her mother's home in the Potomac Gardens housing complex.
Evans was caught on surveillance video firing a gun multiple times near the time McMillian was shot, Newsham said at a news conference Tuesday morning.
"It was almost noon on a relatively nice day. There were a number of people out there, and Saeve Evans discharged a firearm under those circumstances, which in my opinion was absolutely reckless," Newsham said.
Evans had a previous felony conviction, which means he never should have owned a gun.
According to court documents, Evans was arrested in 2005 after police say he used a stolen car to try to run down officers. He was convicted of assault.
It was not clear whether Evans is believed to have fired the shot that killed McMillian. As of Wednesday night, Evans was charged with illegal possession of a handgun. He was held without bond.
McMillian grew up in D.C. and was home from out of town for Thanksgiving. She had been attending a boarding school in Iowa.
"Everybody loved her," McMillian's cousin Quashawn Wheeler said Friday about the teen known to loved ones as "Bre."
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Evans also was arrested in August 2014 after police said he and another man were believed to have shot and injured three men and three women in an alley near Nationals Park.
He was found living in an upscale neighborhood in Fort Washington, Maryland, with a group of squatters, police said.
Evans was charged in May 2015 in that shooting but the case was dismissed.
Court documents show that one witness was a paid confidential informant. Two additional witnesses refused to cooperate and a fourth person said they did not know what happened.
The U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment.
Sources told News4 that Evans had been a victim of gun violence himself. In one incident, he reportedly was shot more than six times. He survived, recovered and returned to the streets, News4's Pat Collins reported.
Anyone who knew Evans' whereabouts was asked to call police immediately at 202-727-9099 or by sending a text message anonymously to 50411.
