Left: Makiyah Wilson; Right: a muzzle flash is visible as shooters fire dozens of bullets. (Screengrabs via WRC-TV)
Five Washington gang members have been sentenced to a combined 268 years in prison for the 2018 murder of a 10-year-old girl who was shot in the heart and died on her mother’s doorstep while eating ice cream one summer night.
As Law&Crime previously reported, Makiyah Wilson was minding her own business – enjoying her ice cream on the family’s front stoop – when a commonplace American tragedy occurred.
At around 8 p.m., on July 16, 2018, several members of the Wellington Park Gang “indiscriminately” fired dozens of bullets in the Clay Terrace courtyard, according to federal prosecutors.
The barrage was the product of a long-running gang war in the neighborhood in the northeastern part of the country’s capital district – Makiyah, the collateral damage.
“On July 16, 2018, four men exited a vehicle in the courtyard of an apartment complex and indiscriminately fired over 50 shots at the residents because of a petty social media feud they had with individuals who associated with that community,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew M. Graves said when a verdict was reached earlier this year. “Their rampage left multiple people shot and a 10-year-old child dead.”
The four shooters were tried alongside two other men. Five men were convicted of the young girl’s death. A sixth man was acquitted of murder but found guilty of conspiracy.
In June, a D.C. Superior Court jury convicted Isaiah Murchison, 23, Darrise Jeffers, 23, Qujuan Thomas, 24, Quentin Michals, 25, and Gregory Taylor, 27, on murder in the first degree while armed. Marquell Cobbs, 21, was convicted of conspiracy to commit a crime of violence.
During the trial, the government alleged and proved that Murchison, Taylor, Thomas, and two others fired “more than 50 shots,” hitting Wilson in the heart and killing her as she sat on the front stoop. Four other victims, including Wilson’s older sister, were wounded. Michals and Jeffers were accused of supplying the guns and the black vehicle the suspects used to drive to and from the crime scene.
Makiyah was between her sister’s legs when she “was shot in the heart and died on her mother’s doorstep,” a prosecutor testified.
The state offered a theory of absolute disregard for the civilians in the area that, in the end, proved convincing to district jurors.
“Who was killed did not matter to Gregory Taylor or his co-defendants,” a prosecutor argued in courtroom comments reported by D.C.-based CBS affiliate WUSA. “Their enemy was Clay Terrace and everyone who lived in that community — men, women and children.”
On Friday, Taylor was sentenced to 68 years in prison. Thomas was sentenced to 65 years in prison. Michals was sentenced to 40 years in prison. Jeffers was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Murchison was previously sentenced to 60 years in prison.
“I know that nothing I do here today can fully make up for that loss and that pain,” Superior Court Judge Robert Okun said during the sentencing hearing. “And for that, I am sorry.”
Makiyah’s family appeared at the hearing to offer emotional, and at times angry, victim impact statements.
“I have a survivor, and I have a baby in heaven,” the girl’s mother, Donneta Wilson, testified. “This was the worst day of my life. I don’t know if you can imagine lifting your child’s shirt up and her whole chest is gone.”
Another family member said there was no amount of prison time that could ever make up for killing a girl who had just happily returned from an ice cream truck.
“As for me, your honor, I wish you would throw them in the fiery pits of hell and shut the door,” the girl’s grandmother, Pandora Wilson, said. “And let them burn. And let them become a pile of ashes. Because that’s what they left me with. Ashes.”
Matt Naham contributed to this report.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
