At the core of the District's bloodiest year this century is what local leaders have bemoaned for months: minor disputes that rapidly escalate into fatal encounters.
A vicious brawl broke out on Howard University's campus, just steps away from residence halls. This wasn't the first crime to strike the HBCU over the last month.
The teen thieves yanking District drivers out of their cars, often at gunpoint, increasingly see violent crime as a game and aren't particularly concerned about the consequences, police who have interrogated the young offenders say.
A 14-year-old boy accused of killing a construction worker during an attempted robbery at Howard University earlier this month broke down in tears in court Tuesday.