NcDeuce
01-25-2004, 10:45 AM
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Police said a 14-year-old girl was shot to death and her friend wounded after being targeted because their assailant thought the slain girl had witnessed a killing the day before.
Jahkema Hansen, 14, and an unidentified 12-year-old girl were found Friday evening in a townhouse not far from the U.S. Capitol.
Franklin Thompson, 22, was arrested Saturday and charged with first-degree murder in the slaying.
The shooting of the two girls was in an area where two men were shot to death last Sunday.
Cmdr. Michael Anzallo, chief of detectives for the District of Columbia police, said the girl was killed because her killer thought she was a witness in the first of two shootings in the same area Sunday. Police said they did not believe the shooter was after the girl who was wounded in the leg. The slain girl was shot three times, including once in the head.
The girl's mother, Judyann Hansen, told The Washington Post that police detectives had offered her daughter protection in exchange for information about that killing.
She said police were clear about the danger witnesses face, with one detective telling her that a gunman will "come and put you to sleep because he don't want to do 60 years."
But her daughter declined the offer and "told them she did not see anything," Hansen said.
The mother said she was angry at police for not providing more help. "Even if my daughter didn't want to say anything, they were supposed to put out protection just in case," she said.
There are some sad people in this world.
Jahkema Hansen, 14, and an unidentified 12-year-old girl were found Friday evening in a townhouse not far from the U.S. Capitol.
Franklin Thompson, 22, was arrested Saturday and charged with first-degree murder in the slaying.
The shooting of the two girls was in an area where two men were shot to death last Sunday.
Cmdr. Michael Anzallo, chief of detectives for the District of Columbia police, said the girl was killed because her killer thought she was a witness in the first of two shootings in the same area Sunday. Police said they did not believe the shooter was after the girl who was wounded in the leg. The slain girl was shot three times, including once in the head.
The girl's mother, Judyann Hansen, told The Washington Post that police detectives had offered her daughter protection in exchange for information about that killing.
She said police were clear about the danger witnesses face, with one detective telling her that a gunman will "come and put you to sleep because he don't want to do 60 years."
But her daughter declined the offer and "told them she did not see anything," Hansen said.
The mother said she was angry at police for not providing more help. "Even if my daughter didn't want to say anything, they were supposed to put out protection just in case," she said.
There are some sad people in this world.