District Man Sentenced to Six Years in Prison For Shooting Juvenile in Southwest Washington

            WASHINGTON – Adrian Wade, 20, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to a six-year prison term on charges stemming from an incident this year in which he fired a gun at four juveniles, hitting one of them, Acting U.S. Attorney Vincent H. Cohen, Jr. announced.

            Wade pled guilty in May 2015, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to two felony offenses of assault with a dangerous weapon and a third offense of possession of firearm during a crime of violence. He was sentenced by the Honorable Todd E. Edelman. Upon completion of his prison term, Wade will be placed on three years of supervised release.

            According to the government’s evidence, on the afternoon of Feb. 7, 2015, Wade armed himself with a firearm, and encountered the four juveniles outside a neighborhood store on Half Street SW, between O and N Streets. During the encounter, Wade pointed the gun at the four victims, who immediately fled the area.

            Shortly afterward, the four victims were walking along the 100 block of O Street SW. Wade again pointed the firearm at them, this time firing four shots at them. One shot struck a 16-year-old boy in the ankle. Wade then passed the gun to co-defendant JaJuan Smith, who fled the area and disposed of the weapon in a bush. The gun was recovered shortly after the shooting, and the spent shell casings recovered from the scene of the shooting matched the recovered firearm.

            Smith, 18, of Washington, D.C., pled guilty to charges of acting as an accessory after the fact, possession of an unregistered firearm, and possession of unregistered ammunition. He was sentenced to two years in prison; the prison time was suspended on the condition he successfully complete 18 months of supervised probation.

            In announcing the sentence, Acting U.S. Attorney Cohen commended the work of the officers, detectives, and others who worked on the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. He also expressed appreciation for the work of the District of Columbia Department of Forensic Sciences. Finally, he acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialist Tamika Garcia, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys William Schurmann and Vivien Cockburn, who investigated and prosecuted the case.