A Washington D.C. woman turned her 12-year-old son in to police after his 13-year-old friend was killed by an off-duty cop during an attempted carjacking.
Vernard Toney Jr. (right) was fatally shot around 10 p.m. outside the US Attorney’s Office on D Street Northwest.
The officer was on his cellphone, getting ready to go in to work when the two youths approached his vehicle.
Police say Vernard opened the passenger side door of the officer’s vehicle and got in. The unidentified 12-year-old walked around to the driver side door and allegedly told the officer “Get the f–k out. You know what this is.”
The officer opened fire, striking Vernard once. Both boys fled on foot, but Vernard collapsed and died.
Authorities released a video image of the fleeing 12-year-old and asked the public to help locate him.
When his mother recognized her son on the news, she immediately called police and turned him in.
According to Fox 5 News, an assistant attorney general asked a judge to keep the 12-year-old locked up in a secure juvenile facility on a charge of attempting carjacking until his next court hearing. Police were not able to connect a firearm to the boys, so the judge did not charge him with armed carjacking.
