Man charged with murder after bathroom dispute leads to deadly shooting in Northeast DC: court documents

WASHINGTON - A suspect has been charged with murder after police say he shot and killed a man following an altercation at DC Doors, a non-profit focused on helping members of D.C.’s Latino community secure housing.

Police say 22-year-old Clarence McKnight is facing second-degree murder charges in the death of 23-year-old Brandon Lewis. 

According to the documents, the deadly incident began inside the housing center located at 900 Rhode Island Ave., NE, just after 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 1, when McKnight was in the bathroom and another man began banging on the door, telling McKnight to "hurry up" because he needed to use it. 

After knocking several times, McKnight came out of the bathroom and went up to the man who had been banging on the bathroom door, making threats towards the man and asking if he wanted to fight. 

The two walked outside where the man finally said he would fight McKnight, but when McKnight saw that the man was accompanied by another man — later identified as Lewis — he decided he didn’t want to fight, thinking that the pair would jump him.

McKnight claims he began to walk away but said the men continued to follow him as he walked around the building before eventually going back inside the DC Doors building. 

Police say they also reviewed CCTV footage that shows the men coming back into the building. 

They say the video shows McKnight in the café of the building when Lewis comes up behind him and punches him at least twice in the head. That’s when McKnight grabs Lewis by his clothes, pulls out a gun and fires multiple shots. 

D.C. Fire and EMS responded and took Lewis to MedStar Hospital where he was pronounced dead just after 7:15 p.m. 

McKnight was taken into custody shortly after the incident. According to the court documents, he told police toward the end of his interview that "the whole situation was ‘f***ed up’ and could have been avoided on both sides." 

His preliminary hearing is set for 9:30 a.m. on Dec. 13.