Shooting Followed Altercation over Inappropriate Touching
WASHINGTON - Marcus Berry, 20, of Washington, D.C., has been sentenced to a 7 ½-year prison term for the shooting of two victims, which shattered one victim’s knee and left the second victim with a permanent hip injury, U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips announced.
Berry pled guilty in August 2015, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to a felony offense of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence and a felony offense of aggravated assault. The Honorable Robert I. Richter sentenced him on Feb. 25, 2016. Following his prison term, Berry will be placed on three years of supervised release.
According to the government’s evidence, on Jan. 17, 2012, a teenage girl called her family to report that she was touched and kicked in the buttocks by Berry while walking to the bus stop after leaving school. Her mother and brother went to the area, near the 1500 block of White Place SE, and found the girl there.
All three approached Berry, who was standing with several other young men. A confrontation ensued, during which Berry’s friend handed him a black pistol. Berry pointed the gun at the girl’s brother and started shooting. Several shots hit the brother in the hip, causing him to fall to the ground. While the brother was crawling away, Berry continued to shoot at him. The mother ran to help and was shot in the knee by Berry. Berry fled the scene, and was later apprehended by officers from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). Both victims suffered debilitating injuries, and the mother required repeated reconstructive surgeries on her knee.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Phillips commended the work of the officers, detectives, and others who worked on the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. He also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Long, now of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Erik Kenerson and Karen P. Seifert, all of whom investigated and prosecuted the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
