WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — Saturday morning, a mother from North Carolina traveled up to D.C. to the Metropolitan Police Department’s First District Headquarters to protest the investigation into her son, Kristian Stewart’s, killing just over a year ago.
“We had Kristian’s funeral on a Thursday, actually one year ago today,' said Kristian's mother, Tequanitha Stewart. She told WUSA9 the 21-year-old was in D.C. for his grandmother’s funeral. On March 23rd, 2023, he was shot outside the Gardens Apartments in Southwest.
“He went to break up a fight and when he attempted to break up a fight he was jumped by, it looked like minors," said Tequanitha. "After they jumped Kristian and he stood up, he was shot.”
The gunshots, and moments leading up to them, were all recorded on a cell phone and posted to Reddit.
“No arrest has been made, nobody has said anything to me besides, ‘Ms. Stewart, we’re still investigating’," she said. “You have this full video with faces on it and you haven’t did anything. His response to me was, ‘Well, we don’t have the shooter on camera’.”
Tequanitha said she moved Kristian and her family to North Carolina from D.C. in 2013 because of violence.
"To send him back here for that and for him to never return home to me and I know that I took him out of this element to protect him from something like this happening, it’s very troublesome," Tequanitha said.
In February, Tequanitha said she filed a $30 million lawsuit against The Gardens Apartments. She said the security cameras that would've caught the shooting, weren't working.
Even though she still lives in North Carolina, Tequanitha said she is planning more visits to D.C. and more protests.
“I will not give up, I will continue to fight, and my voice will be heard because I’m going to continue to yell about my son, because his life mattered," she said.
Metro Police told WUSA9 the case remains under investigation. They encourage anyone with information to reach out to them.
Police are also offering up to a $25,000 reward for any information that leads to an arrest and conviction in this case.