Man's Death Year After 3rd Street Tunnel Shooting Ruled Homicide

A driver who was shot in the 3rd Street Tunnel in Washington, D.C., has died more than a year later from complications from his injuries, police say

Daquan Brooks, 21, was charged with assault with intent to kill, after police say he shot 52 year-old Leon Williams on July 30 after a minor car crash on Interstate 395 in the tunnel.

A witness to the shooting said a man shot the driver in the neck after the driver "tapped" the car in which the shooter was riding.

Williams had life-threatening injuries.

D.C. police said Tuesday that Williams died on Oct. 22 and an autopsy determined his death was due to complications from gunshot wounds. The manner of death was ruled a homicide.

Upgraded charges against Brooks are pending, police said.

The witness told News4 his coworker was driving the gold SUV that hit a dark-colored, four-door sedan on I-395 near the Massachusetts Avenue exit shortly before 3 p.m.

The woman driving the sedan got out and screamed at them, the witness said. Then a man who was her passenger got out.

“I’m thinking he’s coming to grab her out of the way, tell her to calm down, and before I know it, I heard the pow,” the witness said.

Instead, the passenger shot the driver of the SUV in the neck.

Both people in the sedan got back into the car and drove off toward Massachusetts Avenue.

The incident closed all northbound lanes of the D.C. highway for three hours during the height of rush hour.

“I make that this was unnecessary,” D.C. police Cmdr. Morgan Kane said at the time of the shooting. “This is truly tragic that a simple accident, vehicle accident — it’s an accident — can escalate into a shooting. So that to me is very sad, it’s heart-wrenching and it’s very unnecessary.”