A D.C. man was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday for his role in a Fourth of July shooting that left another man dead in Northeast last year.
In a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C., prosecutors said D.C. resident Brandon Smith, 38, pleaded guilty on Feb. 4 to second-degree murder while armed in connection with the death of 43-year-old Charles Stanton, also of D.C.
On July 4, 2023, police said they got a 911 call shortly before 4:30 p.m. about a shooting that took place on Patterson Street near North Capitol in Northeast.
When they got there, they found Stanton unconscious with 13 gunshot wounds.
He was later pronounced dead.
An investigation revealed that surveillance footage around the scene of the crime showed Smith’s car before the shooting took place, prosecutors said. Stanton was apparently chatting with someone in another vehicle, sitting on a bicycle on the north side of the street. Then, Stanton rode toward Smith’s car, where they had a conversation, prosecutors said.
Smith pulled out a handgun from his pants and Stanton was seen trying to leave on his bicycle.
That’s when Smith shot Stanton, who fell from the bike. Prosecutors said that while Stanton was on the ground “defenseless and helpless,” Smith continued to shoot him — and then fled the scene in his car.
Detectives were able to find and arrest Smith by getting the license plate number on his car from surveillance video.
The shooting happened the same day as a mass shooting during a Northeast D.C. block party, which injured nine people.
