Security footage from the exterior of a Crown gas station in Washington, D.C., allegedly depicts 17-year-old Lorinzo Thompson taking aim and firing at a 14-year-old, Niko Estep, while Thompson’s mother looks on. Thompson is charged with second-degree murder and will be tried as an adult. Courtesy: Metropolitan Police Department arrest warrant
A 17-year-old’s celebration on Instagram where he boasted about shooting and killing a 14-year-old boy just days earlier at a Washington, D.C., gas station is what helped lead to his arrest and subsequent charge for second-degree murder while armed, according to court records newly unsealed this week.
Lorinzo Thompson, 17, will be tried as an adult for shooting and killing Niko Estep, 14, on Nov. 3 just before midnight outside of a Crown gas station in the nation’s capitol.
Surveillance footage from the scene appeared to show Thompson committing the murder as a woman police have identified as Thompson’s mother looks on while standing just behind him.
Thompson fired 12 shots from a 9mm handgun in seven seconds as he took aim at two people, Estep and another unidentified teenager, police said. A third teen was also in Estep’s group. The boys appeared to be riding by the gas station on electric scooters when police say Thompson was alerted that they were there and, in a matter of moments, started shooting.
“As the scooters come into view of the camera, the suspect is observed using both hands to hold a firearm out in front of him while pointing it in the direction of [Estep] and others on the scooters,” a Metropolitan Police officer wrote in an affidavit for a search warrant last week.
No motive for the murder was described.
While Estep did not survive the shooting, the other teen, Metropolitan Police said in a statement on Nov. 10, was transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Authorities said Thompson’s mother, who appears in footage wearing a white jacket and hat, made no attempt to intervene, and that once the shooting was over, footage appears to show her son fleeing the scene on a scooter without her. She follows suit in the same direction just moments later though.
More security footage obtained by police and attached to the newly-public warrant shows Thompson and his mother entering the the apartment building they shared just minutes apart shortly after the murder.
In the apartment security footage, the woman can be seen carrying a scooter illuminated with blue lights — the same type spotted at the Crown gas station, court records note.
Though the shooting was more than a week ago, the warrant was only made public this week when it was decided that Thompson — who was incorrectly identified in police and court records as “Lorenzo” Thompson — would be tried as an adult.
In a supplemental affidavit, officers said they saw Thompson brag about killing Estep on an Instagram live feed on Nov. 6, just 72 hours after the slaying. Thompson also allegedly used Estep’s nickname “Y.B.” in the clip.
“The defendant shows no remorse during this broadcast and it appears he is celebrating with others [while he] demonstrates someone turning around to run and then falling after being shot,” police wrote in an criminal affidavit for an arrest warrant obtained by Law&Crime on Wednesday.
“‘Got him,’” police quoted Thompson as saying in the feed.
Three days after police saw the Instagram video and while conducting a routine patrol of a housing project in Washington, D.C., they reported seeing Thompson standing in a local courtyard. Knowing he had an active warrant out for the murder of Estep, they approached. Thompson initially resisted arrest, they said.
A search of his apartment did turn up a 9mm magazine tucked inside a backpack in his bedroom, court records show.
Thompson was also made identifiable to police because they recognized him from a previous robbery incident and he wore pants during the robbery that featured a colorful, flashy pattern. Those same pants appear to be worn by Thompson in the footage from the gas station shooting.
Thompson has been in detention since Nov. 10 and according to The Washington Post, he is scheduled to appear in court on Friday.
No charges have been filed against Thompson’s mother.
The 17-year-old’s attorney, Joseph Yarborough, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
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