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Parents, victims in shooting that killed 10-year-old girl sue District

Assistant D.C. Police Chief Chanel Dickerson said the suspects fired "indiscriminately," killing 10-year-old Makiyah Wilson and wounding four adults. (Courtesy NBC Washington)

The parents of a 10-year-old D.C. girl who was shot and killed while walking to an ice cream truck last summer are suing the District.

Makiyah Wilson, 10, was killed in a shooting that prosecutors have said was a gang-related retaliation. Four people, including her older sister, were wounded. On Wednesday, her parents, Donetta and Michael Wilson; her sister, Nyjhay Lewis; and Curtis Gilmore, one of the other injured adults, filed a suit against the District of Columbia Housing Authority.

Four men were captured on surveillance video pulling into the parking lot of the Richardson Dwelling, also known as Clay Terrace, on July 16 and firing wildly into a crowd of people. Among them was Makiyah Wilson, heading to the ice cream truck with a $5 bill in her hand. Seven people have been charged in her death.

Wilson鈥檚 parents say in the suit that the city, which operates Clay Terrace, is partially responsible for their daughter鈥檚 death by “failing to secure, guard, manage and otherwise monitor the area by providing adequate security or gateage.”

According to the suit, there are 鈥渄ozens and dozens of calls for service鈥 to D.C. police every year to Clay Terrace. Twenty-three homicides and hundreds of other violent crimes, they allege, were committed within 1,500 feet of Wilson鈥檚 address, and residents complained to management about violent crime in the area and asked for more security.

Even so, 鈥渢he area is not secured or patrolled by any security personnel,鈥 nor are there any gates to keep people out, the suit says.

Lawyer Brian McDaniel told 海角精品黑料 that Wilson鈥檚 parents are seeking $30 million in a wrongful-death suit, while Lewis and Gilmore are asking for $5 million each in negligence suits.

Rick Massimo

Rick Massimo came to 海角精品黑料, and to Washington, in 2013 after having lived in Providence, R.I., since he was a child.聽He's the author of "A Walking Tour of the Georgetown Set" and "I Got a Song: A History of the Newport Folk Festival."

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