A 12-year-old girl and two 13-year-old girls have been arrested and charged with murder in the beating death of a 64-year-old man last fall on Georgia Avenue NW, D.C. police say.
One of the 13-year-olds was arrested Thursday. The other 13-year-old and the 12-year-old were arrested Friday.
The arrest of the youngest girl came after she was shot and wounded in her home on Peabody Street NW earlier Friday, a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation told News4.
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Reggie Brown, a 64-year-old Northwest D.C. resident, died after he was assaulted on Oct. 17, 2023. Officers responded to the 6200 block of Georgia Avenue at about 12:55 a.m. He had injuries consistent with an assault and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. An autopsy determined he died of blunt force trauma and was a homicide victim.
Video a detective called "horrific" played in court Friday evening showed three girls kicking and stomping Brown. They appeared to be in a celebratory mood as they walked away.
Detective Harry Singleton testified Friday a man in a blue coat threw Brown to the ground. Then the man and a group of girls followed Brown as he tried to get away.
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Singleton found no connection between Brown and the girls.
“My uncle really didn’t deserve this,” a niece of Brown’s said in a statement to News4. “He was known in this community for years so for this to happen where he lived for 64 [years] is insane. They have to be held accountable!”
The 13-year-old girls were taken to a secure youth facility after Friday's hearing. The 12-year-old girl will be in court Saturday.
3 suspects arrested in Reggie Brown's death five months later
One of the 13-year-olds was arrested and charged with second-degree murder on Thursday.
Early Friday, before 4 a.m., the 12-year-old was shot in her apartment in the 500 block of Peabody Street, about a half-mile from the scene of the deadly beating. The girl was hit in the leg and taken to a hospital with injuries not expected to be life-threatening.
She and the second 13-year-old girl were then charged with second-degree murder.
Police have not said if the gunfire that hit the girl early Friday was fired inside her apartment or if it came in from outside. Video from the scene shows a shattered pane of a first-floor window.
A neighbor told News4 that after a loud bang, two young people jumped out of the broken window and ran down an alley.
Police investigating the shooting took a number of young people into custody. Numerous officers were seen using flashlights to search the ground before dawn.
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Information was not immediately released on who is suspected of shooting the 12-year-old or how detectives built their case against the girls. All three girls are Northwest D.C. residents. Their names were not released.
Anyone with potentially relevant information is asked to contact police. A reward of up to $25,000 is available.
Stay with News4 for more on this developing story.
