Police have arrested a second man in the death of 17-year-old Jamahri Sydnor, who was struck by a stray bullet on Aug. 10.
Robert Moses, 18, of northeast D.C., was arrested early Friday morning and charged with first-degree murder, police sources said.
Another man was arrested in the days following the shooting and charged with assault with intent to kill. The two men arrested were not trying to shoot at each other, D.C. Chief of Police Peter Newsham said.
In court on Friday, Sydnor's parents watched as Moses was charged with killing their daughter.
"She got all kind of family members. A mother, aunts, uncle, sisters. Every (expletive) body who care about her. Period. He might not have nobody who care about him, but she damn sure got people who care about her," Jamahri's father, Jerome Sydnor, said outside the courtroom.
Prosecutors said Moses fired nine shots in broad daylight at someone across the street as Sydnor was driving in the 1400 block of Saratoga Ave. NE.
Sydnor was shot and died two days later. She was less than a mile from her home.
Witnesses testified that Moses was among a group engaged in gun play earlier on the day of the shooting on Rhode Island Avenue.
Moses' attorney argued there was no physical evidence linking him to the crime, and that eyewitnesses had reason to lie. Prosecutors countered that the witnesses from different places all told corroborating stories and said when Moses was arrested he was in a bathroom in a Northeast D.C. home, and there was a gun hidden in the toilet tank.
"These kids don't know what they did because they not only shattered our world with Jamahri, but they lost their dreams, their hopes, what could've been for them. So, it's a lose-lose situation all the way around. There's no winners in this," Jamahri's mother, Queen Edwina Wallace, said.
Newsham characterized the shooting as a "senseless neighborhood dispute" at an Oct. 27 press conference.
Sydnor, a recent graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School in Northwest D.C. was due to start college at Florida A&M University within days. She was captain of her high school's cheerleading squad and sang in the choir.
"She was the embodiment of what we want a Wilson grad to be," Principal Kimberly Martin said.
Phillip Carlos McDaniel, 21, of Northeast D.C., was arrested Aug. 10. At the time, police said they were searching for two other people. McDaniel initially was charged with assault with intent to kill. Upgraded charges are pending.
Newsham said Oct. 27 that police continue to investigate the case, and declined to say whether they were actively looking for another suspect to arrest.
As Sydnor fought for her life right after the shooting, D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham lashed out against violent, armed young men in the District.
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"We have young men that go out there and they feel like they can resolve disputes with a firearm. What we had here is we had an innocent person that was caught up in that," he said.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser spoke about the need to get illegal guns off the street.
"It's sickening. There are no words for it, to lose a young girl who's done everything right," she said.
Syndor's mother is a D.C. police sergeant, sources previously told News4.
"She was a wonderful kid. She was very studious, up on all the current events. Came to class smiling," teacher Eden McCauslin said, crying. "She was really curious about the world."
Six people received Sydnor’s donated organs, her family said.
