District Man Found Guilty Of Charges For Shooting A Man In Northwest Washington

Victim Shot in Upper Chest Outside Nightclub

            WASHINGTON – Emanuel Leyton, 22, of Washington, D.C., has been found guilty by a jury of the July 2021 shooting of a man outside of a Northwest Washington nightclub, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Robert J. Contee III, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department. The verdict was returned late yesterday. The Honorable Robert Okun scheduled sentencing for March 31, 2023.

            Leyton, 22, was found guilty at trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, of aggravated assault while armed, assault with a dangerous weapon, assault with significant bodily injury, three counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, carrying a pistol without a license, and lesser included firearms offenses.

            According to the government’s evidence, shortly after midnight on July 30, 2021, Leyton got into a verbal argument with the victim, the victim’s cousin, and another anonymous acquaintance, inside Johana’s nightclub, in the 4700 block of 14^th Street NW.  Leyton left the club but returned a short time later. He left, again, around the same time as the victim and the victim’s cousin, who walked in the direction of 14^th and Decatur where their vehicle was parked. Leyton was ahead of the victim walking in the same area. At the cross street, the defendant retrieved a gun from his waistband and shot the victim in the chest. The victim took shelter back inside the club, where he was found by officers who arrived minutes later. He was rushed to the hospital by DC FEMS personel. When officers arrived, Leyton was still on the sidewalk. Bystanders pointed him out as a potential suspect and he was stopped. The defendant agreed to a noncustodial interview at the 4^th District station, where he put himself on the scene but claimed someone else fired the shot from a car. 

            Hours later, while the defendant was still voluntarily with police, the victim’s cousin, identified Leyton as the shooter. The next day, an employee of a business in that area found a gun in a flowerpot outside and called 911. DNA evidence linked Leyton to the recovered firearm, and ballistics evidence linked the gun to the shooting. 

            This case was investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department.  It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alec Levy and Randle Wilson of the Major Crimes Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Valuable assistance was provided by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen Kern, Paralegal Specialists Antoinette Sakamsa and Renee Prather, and Litigation Technology Specialist Charlie Bruce.