Teen Pleads Guilty In D.C. Zoo Shootings
A teenager admitted Wednesday firing the shots that wounded seven children outside of the National Zoo on Easter Monday.
Antoine B. Jones agreed to accept criminal responsibility under a proposed plea agreement that could send him to prison for 25 years or longer.
"You are pleading guilty to seven felonies?" asked District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Noel Anketell Kramer.
"Yes, ma'am," replied Jones, four days after turning 17. Wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, Jones told the judge he intended to harm others when he fired at least four shots into a crowd just outside the main entrance to the National Zoo on April 24th.
The grounds were crowded as families participated in the zoo's annual Black Family Celebration, a traditional gathering which dates back more than 100 years to the post-slavery days of segregation.
"The defendant entered the National Zoo with a loaded 9-mm pistol in his waistband," said Deputy U.S. Attorney Michael T. Ambrosino.
An argument developed between a group of teenage boys that included Jones and another neighborhood group.
The shooting occurred as guards herded crowds of visitors toward the exit to diffuse the altercation, Ambrosino said.
Both groups of young people left the zoo, but the verbal altercation resumed. Members of both groups began throwing sticks, bottles and other objects across the street at each another, prosecutors said.
When a bottle landed at Jones' feet, he stepped into the street in front of the zoo, aimed his gun in the direction of the other group and fired a number of shots across Connecticut Avenue, prosecutors said.
Although Jones initially faced a 24-count indictment, attorneys worked out a plea bargain enabling him to plead guilty to one charge in connection with each of the seven people wounded. The victims were 11 to 16 years old.
Prosecutors said Jones pleaded guilty to three counts of assault with intent to commit murder while armed, one count of assault with intent to commit mayhem while armed and three counts of assault with a dangerous weapon.
The mayhem charge stems from the wounding of Harris Bates, 11, and carries a penalty of 15 years to life. A bullet remains lodged in the frontal lobe of Bates' brain where it has impeded his short term memory.
Attorneys are recommending that Jones serve 25 years in prison and five years probation. The judge has already ordered him to pay $1,400 to the district's crime victims' assistance fund.
Kramer, who has the option of releasing Jones at age 21, ordered completion of a pre-sentencing report and a Youth Act study by Jan. 10, since Jones was 16 at the time of the shooting.
Sentencing is set for Jan. 26.