DC. Two More D.C. Juvenile Wards Slain. Death Toll: 7 wards slain, 10 wards charged with murder.

Source: 2 more D.C. wards slain

By: Bill Myers
Examiner Staff Writer
August 13, 2010

Two more young men who were committed to the D.C.’s youth justice agency have joined the District’s grim roll call in separate homicides this week, The Washington Examiner has learned.

David Hinson, 20, was shot dead Wednesday night in Capitol Heights. A few hours later and several miles away, Sean Robinson, 19, was gunned down on the 2500 block of Mozart Avenue NW.

Each man was a ward of the District’s long-troubled Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, a source familiar with their backgrounds told The Examiner.

Hinson’s juvenile record included arrests for destruction of property, unauthorized use of a vehicle, theft and assault, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity because juvenile records are confidential.

Robinson had been arrested for weapons crimes, robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. He had recently escaped from the city’s custody and was on the run, the source said.

City Attorney General Peter Nickles confirmed Robinson was a city ward, but did not provide any further details Thursday night.

With these two deaths, city juvenile justice officials have now lost at least seven wards to homicide since the beginning of the year. At least another 10 city wards have been charged with murder.

The slayings come just weeks after Nickles fired DYRS Director Marc Schindler and replaced him with longtime Fenty loyalist Robert Hildum.

Mayor Adrian Fenty has long been committed to a “community-based” juvenile justice model, where the goal is to wrap counseling and other social services around wayward kids, as close to home as possible.

But the spiral of youth violence has repeatedly embarrassed the mayor. Two weeks ago, a melee broke out at a city hall awards ceremony for DYRS wards.

The mayor is now in a tight re-election battle against D.C. Council Chairman Vince Gray.

Police union chief Kris Baumann, a consistent critic of Fenty’s, said the Hinson and Robinson slayings are part of the mayor’s legacy.

“Adrian Fenty spent the last three years building an agency that coddled violent offenders. You can’t change that overnight. …” Baumann said.

bmyers@washingtonexaminer.com

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/Source_-2-more-D_C_-wards-slain-1009713-100579339.html#ixzz0wVGUZloC

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