WASHINGTON — Editor's note: The above video is from 2019.
Nearly four years after a teenage boy was chased down and shot dead in Southeast D.C., a 20-year-old man has been found guilty of his murder. A jury delivered the verdict against Malik Holston on Wednesday.
Holston was found guilty of first-degree murder and other gun-related charges in the 2018 death of Gerald Watson. His sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 26, 2023.
Watson was killed just a few days before Christmas on Dec. 13, 2018. Around 3:40 p.m., Holston and a second person, who were armed and wearing masks chased Watson through the parking lot area of apartment buildings in the 2900 block of Knox Place Southeast. Watson ran inside one of the buildings and was followed by Holston, while the second person waited outside. Inside the building where Watson's aunt lived, Holston cornered Watson and shot him 16 times with a .40 caliber revolver. Watson was taken to the hospital where he later died.
Holston was arrested five days later, and has been in custody since. Holston was only 16 years old at the time. The second person involved was shot and killed in an unrelated case in September of 2019.
In the wake of his death, Gerald's family launched a mentorship program that they hope will save lives. It's called The Gerald Project.
"Gerald’s Project is a project that’s meant to give every Black boy in D.C. a mentor," Gerald's godfather, Darrell Gaston, told WUSA9 in 2019. "But also by providing wrap-around services for those who have been impacted by homicide. Sometimes when you lose a child and are impacted, you’re not worried about paying your rent. Then third, a scholarship. We need to stop stigmatizing trauma or therapy and be able to talk through things, and so if we talked through this, maybe Gerald would still be here."
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