D.C.’s top prosecutor announced upgraded charges Monday against a teenage boy accused of shooting an off-duty firefighter during a botched robbery over the weekend.
Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said her office brought charges of armed robbery, aggravated assault while armed and gun charges against 17-year-old Marcellus Dyson Jr. following the bloody stick-up near the corner of 8th and C streets in Northeast.
Ms. Pirro said the teen was originally charged with assault with intent to rob when Metropolitan Police arrested the suspect at about 10:30 p.m. Saturday.
“This case is another example of juveniles with a gun who were going after the law-abiding citizens in this District,” Ms. Pirro said at a Monday press conference.
“It is another example of why President Trump is moving to make sure that these defendants, and that these young punks, are being brought into the criminal justice system, so that we have access to them, so that we get a criminal record, and so that we are able to identify them as the violent punks that they are,” she said.
Prosecutors said firefighter Zeek Dziekan had just left a party when a boy wearing a surgical mask approached him and pointed a gun at him.
The young suspect then ordered the victim, who is a father of two, to hand over his belongings, according to officials.
Mr. Dziekan gave his phone and other items to the mugger, but Ms. Pirro said the boy handed the phone back and asked the man to unlock it.
“It was at that point that the defendant put the gun to the chest of the off-duty firefighter, and the firefighter tried to grab the barrel of the gun,” Ms. Pirro said. “The defendant pulled the trigger, and the firefighter was shot in the chest, and he started to bleed out heavily.”
Prosecutors said Mr. Dyson was somehow shot in the hand during the struggle. The teen screamed and started to run away, but returned to try and grab the gun off the ground.
Mr. Dziekan instead swiped the weapon and fired two shots at his attacker.
Police found the firefighter suffering from a non-life-threatening gunshot wound near the site of the robbery.
Officials said the firefighter called 911, but the call didn’t go through. A neighbor walked up to the scene soon after and called the victim’s firehouse, which was nearby, so his crew members could come help.
“He’s home recovering. His family, everybody’s very happy that he’s safe and he’s well,” said David Hoagland, the president of International Association of Fire Fighters Local 36. “They actually left the bullet in him because they would have done more damage taking it out.”
The wounded suspect was found a few blocks away pretending to be a victim of a robbery, prosecutors said, until officers caught up with him and detained the boy.
While being taken to a hospital for treatment, officials said a police body camera captured the suspect saying, “I’m sorry and I won’t do it again.”
Mr. Dyson will make his first appearance on Tuesday in D.C. Superior Court.
