Source: United States Department of Justice News
WASHINGTON – Terreance Robinson, 25, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty, yesterday, to assault with intent to kill while armed in connection with a retaliatory shooting, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. The plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, FBI Special Agent in Charge Wayne A. Jacobs, of the Washington Field Office, and Interim Chief Ashan Benedict, of the Metropolitan Police Department.
According to the Government’s evidence, on October 20, 2022, around 6:08 p.m., surveillance captured the defendant in the Clay Terrace neighborhood with his juvenile co-conspirators. While there, the defendant pulled two firearms out of his waistband before providing one to a juvenile co-conspirator. At approximately 6:42 p.m., the defendant and his three juvenile co-conspirators drove a carjacked vehicle (“Suspect Vehicle”) from the Clay Terrace neighborhood to the 500 block of 51st Street Northeast, Washington, D.C. in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood. The defendant and his co-conspirators targeted a group of people who were gathered by the 500 block of 51st Street NE.
While driving by the group, the defendant and his co-conspirators fired their firearms at the group, prompting everyone in the group to flee. During the shooting, the Suspect Vehicle that defendant and his co-conspirators occupied collided into a parked vehicle on the road by 519 51st Street NE. The defendant and his co-conspirators swiftly exited the vehicle and fled the scene as the defendant continued to shoot his firearm at the retreating group. At least one individual in the targeted group was shot multiple times and was hospitalized for his injuries. While fleeing the scene, the defendant and his co-conspirators ran through Marvin Gaye Park and back to the Clay Terrace neighborhood in Washington, D.C. The investigation revealed that the shooting was retaliatory in nature.
Less than a month later, on November 16, 2022, federal and local law enforcement executed a search warrant at the defendant’s residence. At the commencement of the search, the defendant ran upstairs and tossed out of a window a Glock 17, 9mm firearm. Police arrested the defendant and found, on his person, distribution-quantities of fentanyl and cocaine base that were packaged for sale. Ballistics analysis linked the Glock 17, 9mm firearm recovered from the defendant’s residence on November 16, 2022, to the October 20, 2022 shooting in Lincoln Heights. At the time of defendant’s conduct on October 20 and November 16, the defendant was on supervision in a case for which he had previously plead guilty for unlawful possession of a firearm.
On June 13, 2023, the defendant pleaded guilty, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, to assault with intent to kill while armed and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. U.S. District Court Judge Jia M. Cobb scheduled a sentencing hearing for September 14, 2023, at which time the defendant faces a sentence of 15 years in prison.
In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Graves, Special Agent in Charge Jacobs, and Interim Chief Benedict commended the work of those who investigated the case from the FBI’s Safe Streets Task Force in Washington, D.C., and MPD’s Violent Crime Suppression Division. They also acknowledged the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sitara Witanachchi and Will Hart, of the Violence Reduction and Trafficking Offenses section, who are prosecuting the case.