DC Police Make Arrest In Killing Of 6-Year-Old Nyiah Courtney

WASHINGTON, DC —The Metropolitan Police Department said Wednesday that an arrest has been made in connection with a July 16 shooting in Southeast D.C. that killed 6-year-old Nyiah Courtney and injured four others.

D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee III announced that 22-year-old Marktwan Hargraves, of Waldorf, Maryland, was taken into custody by D.C. police and the U.S. Marshal's Fugitive Task Force Wednesday morning. Hargraves was found inside an apartment in Southeast D.C. and has been charged with first-degree murder while armed, Contee said at a news conference.

“I stood before you just over a week ago and said we would get justice for 6-year-old Nyiah Courtney,” Contee said. “The prayers of the community have been answered. I’m here to announce today that we’ve got our man.”

Nyiah was shot and killed while riding her scooter alongside her mother, who also was wounded in the shooting. The shooter may have targeted Courtney's family's, Contee said.

At the news conference, Contee said that 16 people were recently indicted for drug-related crimes in the Congress Heights community where Nyiah was shot and killed. He confirmed that Nyiah's father was a part of the group that was indicted in the drug crimes.

Nyiah's father was wounded in the same shooting that killed Nyiah and was released from the hospital and placed in custody the following day. Also, a person who was included in the earlier drug indictment was shot the day before, Contee said.

Those 16 people "bear in part responsibility" for Nyiah's death, he said. "But for their illegal activities in that area, perhaps they would not have been targets," the chief added.