Police arrest 2 in separate DC homicides involving innocent bystanders

WASHINGTON - Police said they have arrested two men in two separate D.C. shooting deaths involving innocent bystanders.

D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham said officers arrested 20-year-old Torey Stockton and 25-year-old Tywan Porter on Thursday.

Stockton is accused of killing 23-year-old Jasmine Lashai Light, who was shot while standing outside a convenience store in the 2000 block of 16th Street in Southeast D.C. on the morning of Jan. 17. Police say Stockton fired shots from a vehicle striking Light and three other men. Light later died from her injuries.

"This was a young lady by all accounts who had turned her life around and … she was an unintended target," said Newsham.

The gunfire happened as Mayor Muriel Bowser and Newsham were holding a news conference about another murder around the corner.

Stockton faces charges of first-degree murder while armed.

Investigators said Porter fatally shot 39-year-old Alexander Mosby on the night of May 26 in the 2200 block of Savannah Terrace in Southeast D.C.

Mosby was an entrepreneur who owned a clothing store in Southeast D.C.

"He was a beloved member of this community and a business man," said Newsham. "He was also an unintended target in this shooting."

Porter is being charged with with second-degree murder while armed.

The investigation into the cases is still continuing.

Chief Newsham said Friday that the recent violence in Southeast D.C., which is producing nearly a murder a day, is being driven by petty disputes and illegal firearms.

"It seems to me that the violence in the community is largely associated with these illegal firearms that we have out here," the police chief said. "We used to have in the District of Columbia a situation where we had crew beefs and we had gang incidents. We had retaliations that were going back and forth and that has not completely dissipated, but those types of shootings have become far less likely than the shootings where we are seeing individual disputes between known actors."

Newsham's announcement on the arrests comes as some members of the community along with elected leaders continue to protest the removal of a popular police commander. Regis Bryant was demoted after being in charge of the Seventh District, which covers Ward 8.

"The Metropolitan Police Department did not have a history of a good relationship with Ward 8, so he has been a breath of fresh air for us in Ward 8 and we have to stand behind him and support him despite what is happening in the community," said D.C. Councilmember Trayon White.

White called on Bowser to reinstate Commander Bryant, but he declined to say what response, if any, he has gotten from her.

On Friday, Chief Newsham said he transferred and demoted Bryant because of the increased violence in the community and felt a change in leadership was the right thing to do. So far this year, 66 people have been murdered in D.C.

Bryant met again with Chief Newsham and for now will remain an inspector and will not return to the Seventh District.