Opinion ID: 8487230
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Second Conspiracy: Murder of Ta-von Nelson and South Capitol Street Shooting

Text: The next day, Simms and Best visited Orlando at his mother’s house, where Orlando told them that he'believed his shooter was one of Howe’s friends, and that he wanted to attack Howe’s funeral in revenge (which was to take place'on March 30). In conjunction with Simms, Best, Bost, and Williams, Orlando decided to procure more guns and to rent a minivan for the shooting. On March 27, 2010, Orlando, Simms,- Best and Bost obtained a 9mm pistol from Orlando’s father and Bost independently obtained a .45 pistol. Simms and Best bought and delivered two boxes of ammunition to Williams. On March 29, Simms, Orlando and Best tried three times to rent a minivan, but no one had sufficient credit to successfully rent the minivan. Orlando then asked his godmother to rent the minivan from a rent-a^ear facility and, after two failed attempts, they successfully rented a silver Chrysler Town & Country minivan at about 5:45 p.m. on March 30; however, Howe’s funeral'had already taken place by that time. Undeterred, Orlando set into motion a new plan to shoot Howe’s relatives. First, Orlando, Best, Bost, Simms, and Williams retrieved the firearms and ammunition. Once the weapons were recovered and the co-conspirators were driving in the. van, however, Williams told the others, “Wall about to go commence, Y’all can let me out right here,” and he exited the van. Because they only had three guns (AK-47, 9mm Glock, and .45 pistol) amongst the four of them, Orlando drove to the Wingate Apartments to rob a man, Tavon Nelson, who he knew carried a gun. Orlando sent Best and Bost to rob Nelson. Best took the 9mm and Bost took the .45 and both wore masks rolled-up to the top of their heads. Best and Bost- attempted to rob Nelson and a shootout occurred at which Nelson was killed. Bost admitted to his cohorts back at the van that he was the one who dealt the killing blow, stating, “Yeah, [Best] hit him, but I finished him.” When Orlando asked where the gun was, however, Best replied that it was left behind with Nelson,, which upset Orlando but he decided nonetheless to drive away without Nelson’s gun. Police responded to the scene within minutes and a witness informed them that, after the shooting, she saw a man run and enter a- silver Chrysler Town & Country minivan. Police recovered seven 9mm shell casings and three .45 shell casings from the scene of .Nelson’s murder. Orlando then drove the van immediately to the 4000 block of South Capitol Street, where many ■ of Howe’s friends were gathered in a front yard, wearing remembrance shirts from Howe’s funeral. Orlando drove up close to the crowd and lowered the van’s windows. Orlando told the other men, “When I pull over, have them guns hanging out the window.” All of the men then pulled down their masks and began firing their weapons. As Orlando drove, Bost fired the .45 pistol from the front passenger window, Simms fired the AK-47 from the rear passenger window, and Best fired the 9mm Glock from both the rear passenger window and the rear driver’s side window. Numerous individuals were shot. Following the shooting, Metropolitan Police Department (“MPD”) Sergeant Las-wuan Washington and his partner, Sergeant Cowan, pursued the minivan because it matched the lookout description officers had received from the witness at the scene of Nelson’s murder. During the pursuit, Sergeant Washington caught a glimpse of Orlando. As the police pursued the minivan, Simms threw the AK-47 out of one of the windows. Orlando then hit a police car in a nearby alley and all four men jumped out of the van and started running in different directions. Officer Christopher Dyke chased Orlando and Best and observed them both remove and throw their jackets to the ground as they ran. When the two men split up, Officer Dyke followed Orlando and caught him, while another officer recovered Best’s jacket. Meanwhile, Simms, who had been running in a different direction, was chased down by Officer Jeremy Bank and eventually surrendered. Officer Daniel Egbert saw Bost flee from the van and pursued him, but was unable to catch him. Best and Bost were both later apprehended by the police in connection with the murders. At the scene of the South Capitol Street shooting, the police found the dying and injured victims “piled up on top of each other.” Brishell Jones, Devaughn Boyd, and William Jones died from their injuries, while six others survived their injuries, but one of whom suffered a severe brain injury-