A 16-year-old man was charged with four murders in a gang-related shooting that also wounded five others in April and May, police in the District of Columbia said Monday.
Michael Mason was arrested last week.
He is a suspect in a total of nine shootings in April and May and faces four counts of first-degree murder while armed, four counts of assault with intent to kill while armed, assault with intent to commit murder while armed and assault with a weapon danger.
The teenager had been released for an unknown crime on March 29 and had his ankle monitor cut off before the violence, authorities said in arrest warrant affidavits.
Terrance Griffin, 31, Jaszel Henderson, 20, Brea Moon, 21, and Antwuan Roach, 18, were killed between April 7 and May 24 in southeast Washington, DC and in nearby District Heights, Maryland.
Witnesses identified the teen in part based on his presence on Instagram, saying he was affiliated with a gang, Spring City, which had a rivalry with a nearby neighboring gang called 37th Street in southeast Washington, DC, according to affidavits from the metropolitan police.
Authorities also said Mason tried to sell a .40 caliber pistol on social media after one of the murders.
Daquan Jones, 19, was also charged with first-degree murder in Moon’s death, according to metropolitan police.
Police obtained a search warrant for Mason’s phone and correlated his location history with the neighborhoods where the attacks took place, according to the documents.
