Local
D.C. double murder doesn’t appear to be hate crime
Prosecutors say dispute over money triggered shooting deaths
Prosecutors say dispute over money triggered shooting deaths.
A D.C. police homicide detective testified at a Superior Court hearing on Tuesday that an argument over money appears to be what prompted defendant David Bright, 29, to allegedly shoot two gay men to death on Feb. 18 inside a group house at 509 58th St., N.E. where the three lived.
Det. Marvin Washington testified that an eyewitness to the incident who also lived in the house told police that Bright shot Clifton David Francis, 51, and David Aumon Watkins Jr., 45, multiple times while in a rage and acting as if he were “crazy.”
Police and prosecutors have not publicly identified the two victims as gay. But law enforcement sources familiar with the case have told the Washington Blade the two were gay and that Sgt. Jessica Hawkins, supervisor of the department’s LGBT Liaison Unit, and Officer Zunnobia Hakir, a member of the LGBT unit, were called to the scene on the day of the murders.
“This case remains under investigation,” said William Miller, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office, which is prosecuting the case. “However, based on the charging documents and court testimony, you can state that there are no allegations that this is a hate crime,” said Miller, who noted that the incident “is believed to involve a dispute over money.”
At the time of his arrest, police charged Bright with first-degree murder while armed.
At the preliminary hearing on Tuesday, Det. Washington appeared to confirm that at least one of the two victims was gay. In response to a question by defense attorney Dominique Winters, he said that the eyewitness to the murders had been in a “romantic relationship” with one of the two victims.
Washington answered the question after Judge Jose Lopez overruled an objection by Assistant U.S. Attorney Magdalena Acevedo, the lead prosecutor in the case, who said the line of questioning was not germane to the case.
Although Washington was careful not to disclose the witness’s gender, referring to the person as Witness 1 or “it,” both Winters and Lopez at various times referred to the witness as “he” or “him.” A law enforcement source also confirmed that Witness 1 is a man.
In her arguments urging Lopez to rule that there was insufficient evidence to find probable cause that the case should proceed to a full trial, Winters suggested that Witness 1 was “biased” against her client and biased toward the decedents because of his romantic relationship with one of the decedents.
Prosecutor Acevedo took strong exception to the argument that Witness 1 was biased. She pointed to Washington’s testimony that Witness 1 provided police with a detailed account of how he saw Bright point his handgun and shoot Francis in the living room of the house.
A police arrest affidavit says Witness 1 told police that while shooting Francis, Bright yelled, “This will teach you.” The affidavit says Witness 1 told police he heard the other victim, who was later identified as David Watkins, yelling, “Day-Day, what are you doing? You’re crazy.”
The witness and others who know Bright said Bright went by the nickname Day-Day.
According to the arrest affidavit, Witness 1 recounted that he then heard several more gunshots that he assumed were fired at Watkins.
Police have said Francis, who suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the body and head, was pronounced dead at the scene. Watkins, who suffered from at least one gunshot wound to the body, was taken to Prince George’s Hospital, where he later died, the affidavit says.
Washington also testified that police found 22 shell casings at the house where the incident occurred and later matched them to a handgun that they recovered from Bright at the time of his arrest.
In addition, in response to questioning by Acevedo, Washington testified that another witness who has family ties with Bright told police that Bright telephoned the witness, listed as Witness 2, and confessed to having shot and killed two men at the 58th Street address.
Based on this and other information provided by police, Lopez ruled that probable cause exists that Bright committed the murders and the case should advance to trial. He denied a request by Winters that Bright be released to a halfway house, saying evidence presented by police and prosecutors indicates that Bright would be a danger to the community. He then scheduled a felony status hearing for June 10.
Prior to Washington’s testimony, Acevedo and Winters told Lopez that Bright had rejected a plea bargain offer from prosecutors. The two did not provide details of the offer, but Acevedo said it involved requiring that Bright accept a sentence of at least 20 years in jail.
At the start of the April 5 hearing, Bright was escorted into the courtroom with what appeared to be white bandages placed over the top of his head. Neither his attorney nor prosecutor Acevedo disclosed what happened to cause the apparent injury.
Shortly after entering the courtroom at the start of the hearing guards escorted Bright out of the courtroom before he returned about five minutes later. Minutes after that he began shouting, “People are trying to kill me. People don’t know what happened.”
Guards responded by hastily escorting Bright back out of the courtroom. About 10 minutes later, after the proceeding was put on hold, Bright was escorted back into the courtroom.
“I apologize, your honor,” Bright said. “That’s OK,” Judge Lopez responded.
Maryland
Trone discusses transgender niece
Blade interviewed Md. congressman, Angela Alsobrooks last week
Editor’s note: The Washington Blade last week interviewed both U.S. Rep. David Trone (D-Md.) and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks. The full interviews with both Democratic candidates for retiring U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.)’s seat will be on the Blade’s website later this week.
Maryland Congressman David Trone last week discussed his transgender niece during an interview with the Washington Blade about his U.S. Senate campaign.
Trone, who is running to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), on May 1 told the Blade during a telephone interview that his niece transitioned when she was in her early 20s. Trone also noted she attended Furman University, a small, liberal arts university in Greenville, S.C.
“I was concerned about how she would be able to transition there,” said Trone.
Trone, who founded Total Wine & More, attended Furman University as an undergrad and is on the school’s board of trustees. Trone told the Blade he donated $10 million to the university to “build out their mental health capacity, which I felt was a way that she could have the best mental health care possible when she worked her way through (her) transition.”
Trone’s niece graduated from the university after she spent five years there.
“She had a great relationship with Furman,” said Trone.
Trone and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks are the leading Democrats running to succeed Cardin. The winner of the May 14 Democratic primary will face former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan in November.
District of Columbia
200 turn out for ’Love Fest’ Drag Story Hour at Freddie’s
Performer reads stories to kids and parents as three protest outside
Between 200 and 250 people, including parents and their children, turned out on Saturday, May 4, for a “Love Fest” Drag Story Hour brunch hosted by the Arlington, Va., LGBTQ establishment Freddie’s Beach Bar and Restaurant.
Local drag performer Tara Hoot, who read children’s stories and handed out coloring books to the kids attending the event, was joined by members of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, which sang several songs before Hoot began reading from children’s books in keeping with the tradition of drag queens conducting Drag Story Hour events across the country.
The May 4 event at Freddie’s in the Crystal City section of Arlington took place four weeks after the start of a similar event hosted by Freddie’s was delayed by a bomb threat, forcing those who had arrived to exit through a rear door and wait in a parking lot as Arlington police conducted a search of the premises with a bomb sniffing dog. No trace of a bomb was found.
All the customers, including parents and their kids, were invited back inside and the show took place as planned.
No similar threat occurred at the May 4 event. But three male protesters assembled on the sidewalk next to the parking lot behind the Freddie’s building, with one of them shouting from a bullhorn passages from his Bible that he said indicated the Drag Story Hour event was an “abomination.”
The three protesters were outnumbered by nearly a dozen counter protesters who were members of the Rainbow Defense Coalition, an LGBTQ organization. They carried bright, rainbow-colored umbrellas while chanting messages of support for the Drag Story Hour event.
Freddie Lutz, Freddie’s Beach Bar owner, called the event a “smashing success” that brought an “outpouring of love from the community.” Lutz released a flier on social media promoting the Love Fest event shortly after the earlier event interrupted by the bomb threat as a showing of love “to stop the hate.”
“Join us for the next story time brunch dressed in your favorite rainbow/hippie outfit” and “carry your favorite homemade signs of support,” Lutz said in his promotional flier. He came to the event dressed in what he called his hippie protest outfit.
Lutz said while the protesters did not interrupt the event, he was concerned that their shouting was scaring some of the kids as they and their parents walked by the protesters to enter Freddie’s.
“I went out back and tried to talk to one of them and it was kind of like talking to a brick wall,” Lutz told the Washington Blade. “He was screaming at the parents that were crossing their kids on the crosswalk,” Lutz said. “And I said, you’re screaming at those kids, you’re scaring them.”
Lutz said the man told him he was yelling at the parents, not the kids. “And I said, no you’re not. The kids are hearing you. You’re scaring them.”
Added Lutz, “And to have such a fun-loving, happy show and then walk out on the sidewalk to that is very disheartening. It’s really sad. I told him my God is a forgiving and loving God.”
One of the protesters, who declined to disclose his name, said he and his two fellow protesters came to talk about the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“We want them to know this is an abomination to the Lord,” he told the Blade. “We want them to know those children don’t have a voice and they’re being brainwashed in there. We’re here to call out their sin.”
Stephanie Krenrich, who brought her two-year-old daughter to the event, said she strongly disputes the claims of the protesters.
“I brought my daughter here because I think that it was a beautiful and wonderful show, and it was great for her,” she said. “And I think it’s pretty offensive when people come to Arlington and tell parents what to do, especially for something so beautiful and so fun and so wholesome,” she told the Blade.
“So that’s why I brought her,” Krenrich said. “I think that it’s really important that we stand up for our values and people just being themselves, being happy and being them.”
Among those who attended the event were four elected officials from Arlington – Virginia State Sen. Barbara Favola, Virginia State Del. Adele McClure, Arlington County Board member Maureen Coffee, and Arlington and Falls Church State’s Attorney Parisa Dehgani-Tafti.
Also attending was Nick Benton, editor and publisher of the LGBTQ supportive Falls Church, Va., News Press; and Kellen McBeth, president of the LGBTQ group Equality Arlington.
“It was fantastic to see so many people come out to support Freddie’s, to support the LGBTQ+ community,” McBeth said. “It was a great event and we’re happy to be a part of it.”
District of Columbia
Another successful Taste of Point fundraiser
Scholars praise financial, networking support
The Point Foundation hosted its annual Taste of Point DC fundraising event on Thursday with nine participating restaurants, a drag performance, and a silent auction.
The event was hosted on the rooftop of the Room & Board on 14th Street, with an afterparty at Shakers. Point donors, scholars, and alumni circled the rooftop eating chips and guacamole from Mi Vida and drinking Pinot Grigio from Barkada.
After about an hour of mingling the events began with event committee member, Kelly Horton and Kevin Kim Wright, chief of staff welcoming the crowd and speaking about the importance of their presence during this pivotal time in queer youth history. Then, Wright welcomed BIPOC Scholar Katherine Guerrero Rivera, saying she was a model of a Point scholar.
“We’re always impressed with all of our scholars and Katherine is another example of a student who is deeply engaged in their campus life and a myriad of projects, everything from creating her own podcast to being a part of a number of student organizations.” Wright said.
Rivera said that the Point Foundation scholarship helps her resist the pressure to drop out. She pointed out that just over 50 percent of Latina students who attend college graduate.
“The Point BIPOC Scholarship is not just financial support, Point has connected me with hundreds of people like me studying on campuses across the country.” she said.
Rivera is a criminology major and poetics minor at University of Maryland and said she hopes to use her degree to bring knowledge to her community through art and advocacy. She said it is important for her to take academic jargon and make it accessible to her community.
“Too often, the history of LGBTQ and people are ignored and silenced during our education,” she said. “I want to use my access to higher education and the chance to develop my creative skills to bring light to societal issues.”
She finished her speech with applause for the audience, then Horton came back with drag queen Tara Hoot to discuss ways donors could continue to support the Point Foundation.
After the lineup of events Wright said he felt great about the event, because it was a celebration of Point’s scholars.
“Some are interning for United States senators, some are volunteering for leading national non-profits, so to be able to celebrate all that’s being done here is truly amazing,”
Wright continued, thanking the D.C. restaurant community for consistently showing up in force to support Point.
“This really helps to paint the picture that this movement is growing,” he said. “People believe in this mission to provide LGBTQ young people with the opportunity to pursue their higher education goals, to improve their leadership abilities and then go on to make a significant impact on society.”
CLICK HERE to see more photos from Taste of Point.
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