Man Charged With Shooting 9-Year-Old Jaydan Stancil Dies in Jail

A man charged with shooting a 9-year-old boy in the head during a shootout in Northeast D.C. has died in jail, officials say.

Kenneth Parker, 28, was found unresponsive in his cell at the D.C. jail on Thursday afternoon, a spokesman for the D.C. Department of Corrections said.

Parker was charged in March with shooting Jaydan Stancil in Oct. 2014, in a parking lot close to a playground near the Mayfair Mansions apartments.

Jaydan survived the shooting that shocked the city.

"People say it's a miracle. They call him the miracle baby," his mother, Monique Nichols said.

Parker was charged with the crime almost a year and a half later. He already was imprisoned on unrelated charges.

Information on the circumstances of his death was not released immediately. 

The corrections department said Thursday that corrections officers found Parker unresponsive. But a police report obtained by News4 says Parker's cellmate found him unresponsive and called for help. 

A D.C. jail representative declined to comment on the discrepancy. 

This is the second death at the jail this month. 

Police said in March that the case is still open and other suspects may be charged. 

"Please, if you have additional information for police, please don't hesitate to call us," former police chief Cathy Lanier said then.

Stay with News4 for more details on this developing story.

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