Local journalist among 6 killed in 6 days across District of Columbia

By Peter Hermann, Perry Stein and Matt Zapotosky May 28 at 11:32 PM Follow @phscoop Follow perrystein Follow @mattzap

A young woman waiting for a bus after a routine work assignment in Southeast Washington was shot and killed by a man on a dirt bike who was aiming at someone else, D.C. police said Thursday.

Charnice Milton, 27, a reporter for neighborhood publications, was among six people killed in the District in six days. The spate of violence included the shooting of a driver on the Anacostia Freeway during the Thursday morning rush and the shooting on Memorial Day of a woman outside her apartment building in Shaw.

Milton was known as a tireless advocate for the communities east of the Anacostia where she lived and chronicled everyday life, using grass-roots-style journalism whether profiling a lifelong Ward 7 resident and avid cyclist or examining penalties for selling alcohol to minors.

[Milton’s journalism was a look at life in Wards 7 and 8]

“Not only did they gun down a young woman, they also silenced one of our reporters,” said Andrew Lightman, managing editor of Capital Community News, where Milton was a regular contributor. “I think it’s a real loss not only for us and her family but also the communities that she covered. . . . She was one of a handful of reporters across the District who was looking at the nuts and bolts of everyday life.”

D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier appeared angry while addressing reporters about the shooting, which occurred at 9:40 p.m. Wednesday at Good Hope Road and Alabama Avenue.

Lanier urged anyone who saw anything to come forward. “We need closure in this case for this girl, for this family, for this community,” she said. “Help us get to the person that would be so reckless as to take this young women’s life in the manner that it was taken.”

Earlier in the day, police were rushing to another killing, this one shortly before 9 a.m. on Interstate 295, the Anacostia Freeway.

Police said a gunman in a car shot repeatedly at a black sport-utility vehicle as the two vehicles drove side by side. The SUV stopped in the center lane.

The victim was identified Thursday night by D.C. police as Pedro Melendez Alvarado, 50, of Alexandria. The motive was not immediately clear, but police discounted an earlier version blaming road rage. They said detectives believe the shooter had followed the SUV into the District from Virginia.

A passenger in the SUV was seriously wounded. That person’s identity has not been released.

The recent surge in fatal shootings brings to at least 49 the number of people killed in the District this year, up from 45 at the same time in 2014. In addition to the slayings in recent days, the victims include four people killed in a home in Northwest Washington on May 14.

On Wednesday night, Milton had been at the monthly Eastern Market Community Advisory Committee meeting. Headed home, she had to change buses on Good Hope Road, near the Good Hope Marketplace, police said.

Lanier said Milton was walking to the second bus when shots were fired.

“Unfortunately, wrong place, wrong time,” Lanier said. “A person who was trying to shoot at a different person strikes Charnice,” who “certainly was not the intended victim.”

The chief pleaded for help from witnesses and complained about the dirt bikes that police in the District and in other cities have had trouble controlling for years. Her office is close to announcing an award program for people who turn in bikes, but she noted that this homicide puts efforts to combat the problem “at a whole new level.”

“It’s very frustrating for police whenever we lose a life,” said Lanier, who spoke alongside Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) just after a kickoff for a summer community safety walk program. “Nothing is more frustrating for us than a case like this.”

Lanier described Milton as “wonderful human being that was doing last night what she did every day. . . . She was so thoughtful. She would always let her mom know, ‘I’m on my way home. Don’t worry.’ ”

Milton’s father, Ken McClenton, who hosts a show on BlogTalkRadio, said in an Internet posting that his daughter had been used as a human shield when she was killed. At the news conference, Lanier declined to address a question about that account.

Colleagues and the local leaders Milton encountered while reporting were mourning her death. The victim attended Ball State University and received a master’s degree from Syracuse University. She lived in Benning Heights with her mother, Francine Milton, a teacher at Eagle Academy Public Charter School in the District.

Milton wrote for two of Capital Community News’ three monthly publications, the Hill Rag and East of the River, contributing about five articles each month.

Nikki Peele, an advocate east of the river and an employee at THEARC, an arts education and recreation center in Ward 8, said she met Milton three years ago. “I found her to be so humble yet heartfelt. She was one of those people who really wanted to share the narrative of great things that made east of the river so special,” Peele said. “She was a short, petite woman but was so powerful with her words.”

Maceo Thomas, an organizer who lives in Ward 7, met Milton while she was reporting on a project he was spearheading to get a mural on a building in his neighborhood.

He said she never backed away from tough questions. “I just assumed that because she was young, she would totally be on my side,” he said. “But she made sure to know the opposition to the mural.”

Thursday’s shooting on the Anacostia Freeway unsettled commuters and caused initial concerns that it was random or a result of road rage. But police said indications are that the victims or car was targeted.

No arrests had been made as of Thursday night. It occurred in the northbound lanes at Exit 1, close to the District’s sewage treatment plant in Blue Plains and adjacent to the Naval Research Laboratory.

Police said the shots were fired by a passenger in a small sedan, perhaps a Toyota Camry or a Honda. “We’re trying to get people to give us more information,” Lanier said, urging anyone who witnessed the incident or saw the vehicles earlier in the morning to call police.

“We have nothing right now to indicate there was any confrontation,” Lanier said. “Right now, it does not look like road rage. The vehicle involved followed [the victims] from Virginia, before they entered the District.”

It was not clear whether there was an earlier dispute or whether the SUV was targeted for another reason.

Gary Tharaldson, who lives in Old Town Alexandria, had just dropped his 5-year-old daughter at day care and was headed to work at the U.S. Transportation Department. The 43-year-old said he saw the first police officer approach the black SUV.

“He ran toward the passenger side, and then he just started looking around, like he was shocked at what he saw,” said Tharaldson, who takes photographs for DCLives.com, which documents protests.

Tharaldson said he saw two men slumped over in the front seats. The passenger was moving slightly; the driver not moving at all. He said he slowly drove by the bullet-riddled vehicle, passing within inches of it.

“Honestly, I have a hard time working today,” Theraldson said. “It’s one of those images that will stick with me forever. It was a sad thing to see, and it makes me worried about living there. . . . Nothing seems safe these days — not the Metro, not the highway.”

Mary Pat Flaherty, Magda Jean-Louis, Clarence Williams and Julie Zauzmer contributed to this report.

Perry Stein covers the happenings in D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

Matt Zapotosky covers the federal district courthouse in Alexandria, where he tries to break news from a windowless office in which he is not allowed to bring his cell phone.