What to Know
- Four more people have been charged in connection to the shooting that killed 10-year-old Makiyah Wilson, bring the total to 11 co-defendants
- Wilson's murder has now been linked to the 2017 slaying of Carl Hardy, 24
- All 11 co-defendants have pleaded not guilty
Four more people have been charged in connection with the shooting that killed 10-year-old Makiyah Wilson in the District last summer, bringing the total to 11 co-defendants — and the suspects have now been linked to another slaying.
Wilson was killed last July while on her way to an ice cream truck. Four men jumped out of a black car and opened fire into a crowd of people, striking Wilson and two others. The little girl was just feet from her front door when she was shot and killed, police have said.
On Thursday, a judge unsealed a 26-count indictment linking Wilson's murder to the 2017 murder of 24-year-old Carl Hardy outside the Potomac Gardens housing complex in Southeast D.C.
Hardy was slain nearly a year before Makiyah Wilson. He died Oct. 1, 2017, of injuries he suffered in a shooting three weeks earlier in the 1200 block of I Street SE.
According to the indictment, the co-defendants were all part of a street gang known as the Glizzy Murder Gang or Wellington Park. The indictment named 11 suspects and says the murders of both Hardy and Wilson stemmed from disputes between rival neighborhoods, Wellington Park and Clay Terrace.
Local
Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
The 26 charges include two felony murders, street gang conspiracy, assault with intent to kill, assault, obstruction of justice and possession of firearms.
The defendants all pleaded not guilty.
During preliminary hearings over the past several months, tensions have often run high in the crowded courtroom as family and friends of the defendants sit on one side, and Wilson's family and friends sit on the other, which has lead to heavy security at the hearings.
On Thursday, the judge made it clear he was fed up with the outbursts.
When the mother of one of the defendants, 17-year-old Marquell Cobb, yelled out during the hearing, the judge ordered the marshals to escort her out of the court room.
