WASHINGTON – Three men, all from Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty today to a charge of voluntary manslaughter while armed in the fatal shooting of an 11-year-old boy on July 4, 2020, in Southeast Washington, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Robert J. Contee III, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
Daryle Bond, 20, Marcel Gordon, 26, and Christan Wingfield, 24, entered the guilty pleas in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. All three pleas are contingent upon the Court’s approval. Bond’s plea calls for an agreed-upon sentence of 7 ½-to-nine years in prison, Gordon’s calls for 10 years, and Wingfield’s calls for a 9 ½-year prison term The Honorable Rainey R. Brandt scheduled a sentencing hearing for June 3, 2022.
A fourth defendant is awaiting trial for first-degree murder while armed, with aggravating circumstances, conspiracy, and other offenses. He has pleaded not guilty to charges.
According to the government’s evidence, on July 4, 2020, at approximately 9:15 p.m., Bond, Gordon, Wingfield, and a fourth man were congregating at a barbeque near the cul-de-sac in front of an apartment building located in the 1400 block of Cedar Street SE. Cedar Street is a long road that ends in a cul-de-sac. The entrance of the 1400 block of Cedar Street intersects diagonally with a street that is known as the “alley.”
Near the entrance of the 1400 block of Cedar Street, Davon McNeal – 11 years old – was exiting a vehicle and walking towards a basement apartment in the Frederick Douglass Garden Apartment Complex. At a certain point, the fourth man, armed with a firearm, started running towards the entrance of the 1400 block of Cedar Street and fired his weapon towards the alley.
Gordon was running behind and fired his weapon in the same direction. Bond, armed with a firearm, too, ran towards the entrance of the 1400 block on a sidewalk on the side of the apartment building along with Wingfield, who was armed with a firearm and running on the road. Davon was struck by one of the bullets and was on the ground in front of the apartment complex. The group subsequently ran in the direction of the playground with guns drawn. Bond, Gordon, and the fourth man all fired their firearms as they were running away from the apartment building.
A review of video surveillance footage showed that Davon was struck by one of the fired bullets as he was running towards the basement apartment. An autopsy concluded that the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head.
Bond was arrested on July 10, 2020. Wingfield was arrested on July 11, 2020. Gordon was arrested on Sept. 1, 2020. All have been in custody since their arrests.
In announcing the pleas, U.S. Attorney Graves and Chief Contee commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Criminal Investigations Division Homicide Branch of the Metropolitan Police Department. They acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialist Lashone Samuels, former Victim/ Witness Specialist Marcia Rinker, Victim/ Witness Specialist Latrice Washington-Williams, and Investigative Analyst Zachary McMenamin. Finally, they commended the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Shehzad Akhtar, Stephen Rickard, and Jack Korba, and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Maryam Adeyola, who investigated and prosecuted the case.