D.C. police have charged an 18-year-old man in last summer's killing of a young mother who was caught in the crossfire of a gun battle between two warring crews in Southeast Washington.
Sherwood Anthony Russell was incarcerated on an unrelated charge when he was booked Thursday on second-degree murder charges.
He is accused of shooting Tiara M. Merriweather while she was playing cards with friends in the parking lot of an apartment complex.
Investigators do not think Merriweather was shot intentionally. Her death nearly a year ago became a symbol of the city's gang problem and the rising number of killings in the District.
Merriweather, 24, was killed June 30 in the 3500 block of Stanton Road SE. More than 70 people were in the parking lot when the shooting took place, but witnesses initially were reluctant to come forward.
Police say at least four gunmen -- two from each crew -- were firing at one another when a bullet struck Merriweather in the head. Investigators said the two groups were involved in a recurring feud, and had shot at each other on several occasions on city streets.
"This was an ongoing battle," said Inspector Rodney Parks, who heads the homicide division.
Parks said police believe they know who the other gunmen are, and expect to bring charges against them.
Russell, who lived near the scene of the shooting, told police that he was standing near Merriweather in the parking lot the night she was killed, according to a criminal complaint filed in D.C. Superior Court.
He said he saw two gunmen get out of a car and start firing into the crowd, the complaint says.
Russell did not admit firing a gun that night, but two witnesses identified him as one of the two shooters who fired back, according to the complaint.
It is not known who fired the bullet that hit Merriweather, officials said.
The charges were brought under the "urban warfare theory," meaning that gunmen who engage in a shootout in a public area may be charged with murder even if authorities can't determine who fired the fatal shot.
When Russell was charged in the case, he was in jail pending a gun charge and a count that he was driving a stolen vehicle in Prince George's County, authorities said.
The shooting was an attempt at retaliation for an incident earlier in the evening, police said. A youth fleeing police after joyriding in a stolen car encountered teenagers from a rival group, who beat him up.
After the beating, the youth's own neighborhood crew vowed revenge.
They returned to the apartment complex where the beating took place -- the same complex where Merriweather was playing cards. They then opened fire, police said.
Merriweather and her younger brother were raised by their grandmother, Ruth Tyler, after their mother died of stomach cancer when Merriweather was 10.
After the shooting last summer, Tyler took responsibility for raising Merriweather's son and daughter -- her great-grandchildren -- then ages 5 and 3.
Friends and family said Merriweather was studying to become a nurse's aide. In addition to attending classes five days a week, she had volunteered at her son's school and her daughter's preschool.
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