1-year-old shot killed in car: DC’s murder rate up 20% in 2020

NOTE: According to official figures, homicide is up 20% in D.C. :

The statistics below reflect the data entered into MPD’s records management system (Cobalt) as of 12 am on the date above. The homicide numbers are based on numbers submitted by the Homicide Branch.

Mayor Muriel Bowser tweeted.

Murder of innocent baby in D.C. marks 20% increase in homicides in our nation’s capital – where’s Black Lives Matter? Gregory Hoyt for Lawenforcementtoday

According to police, the young boy had died after being shot while inside of a vehicle along the 5700 block of Southern Avenue in Southeast Washington.

What’s all the more sad in this senseless murder is that Carmelo’s father was inside of the car when his baby was shot.

“There are simply no words. The level of senselessness is impossible to process. It goes without saying that MPD needs our help,” D.C. Mayor said.

Local activists on December 3rd had gathered nearby the area where Carmelo was murdered, echoing urges for anyone who knows about the shooting to come forward to police. 

Radio personality DJ Dirty Rico was among those who’d gathered, speaking through a bullhorn during the gathering: 

“Don’t sit in your houses and say, ‘I wish I would have went out there’. Get out here!”

Perhaps one of the most eye-opening statements DJ Dirty Rico made while on the streets urging locals to speak up about what they may have seen, he stated: 

“Right now in Washington, D.C., we’re not paying attention to this. This was the pandemic before the pandemic!”

Darrell Gaston, who formed The Gerald Project, was also in attendance. Gaston had formed The Gerald Project after his 15-year-old godson, Gerald Watson, was murdered in D.C. back in 2018. The December 2018 killing of Watson saw the teen shot 17 times. 

While Gaston was handing out fliers to help bring attention to the murder of 1-year-old Carmelo, he is also becoming tired of what he feels it like a perpetual “cycle”: 

“We cry, we do the hashtags, we bury the babies and then the phone calls stop and we repeat the cycle.”

John Ayala, who is part of the group called “The Guardian Angels” is among those who want to see this cycle come to a close.

Ayala is also one who can identify with losing a loved one at a young age, as his 11-year-old grandson Davon McNeal was killed this summer in a shooting. 

When remarking on the type of individuals who commit such murders against children, Ayala stated: 

“They don’t have any care for life.”

When Chief Newsham was asked about what has led to such an increase in homicides within the city, the police chief laid blame on the overwhelming number of illegal guns in the area.

With D.C. seeing an average of roughly 17 murders a month for 2020, there’s speculation that D.C. could accrue a disturbing over-200 murders this year. Furthermore, MPD data shows that D.C.’s murder rate is at its highest point since 2005. 

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Earlier in June 2020, the D. C. City Council voted to defend the police by $15M to replace some of the service budget with social service personnel and social services such as housing. In this case, however, the Police Chief mentions the increase in illegal guns, as used the Chief believed one was used in this case.