SUV Linked to 3 Violent DC Crimes Found Torched

An SUV possibly linked to three violent crimes, including a homicide, was set ablaze and found Tuesday night, D.C. police said. Investigators are searching for suspects.

The first crime happened at a gas station on Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue NE on Jan. 15, when an at-large candidate for D.C. Council was carjacked in broad daylight. 

Surveillance video caught the moment people who appeared to be very young men, at least one armed with a gun, exited a burgundy Toyota Highlander and asked Nate Fleming to turn over his car keys. 

“There was no one even in vision before I went into the store. As soon as I came out, the vehicle was instantly in my face, and guns were pointed in my face before I could blink an eye,” he said.

Fleming handed over his keys, and the carjackers took off with his car and the Highlander. 

In the ensuing days, Fleming learned that a burgundy Toyota Highlander with D.C. tags was also seen near two shootings.

The first shooting took place at 8 p.m. Tuesday in the 5000 block of Cloud Place NE. Devin Brewer, 19, was shot and killed, and another man was wounded.

As detectives investigated that scene, another double shooting took place just blocks away, in the 4900 block of East Capitol Street NE.

Both men who were shot there were expected to survive their injuries.

“I think this is a crisis related to young people in D.C., so we need to give them opportunities: expanding the summer youth employment program to year-round, $20 million for a young adult employment program,” Fleming said. “But also do the short-term work of making sure there’s more engagement in our communities … also stronger relationships between the community and the police.” 

D.C. police believe the same Toyota Highlander, but not necessarily the same suspects, were involved in all three crimes.