WASHINGTON — The big sister of murdered D.C. ten-year-old Makiyah Wilson broke down in tears Tuesday as she told a DC Superior Court jury about finding her sister with a gaping wound in her chest.
Nyjhay Wilson, 18, had been shot herself, but didn’t notice because she was so panicked about little Kiyah.
The murder of the little girl in Clay Terrace in Northeast in July of 2018 shocked the District. Four and a half years later, six men are on trial for conspiracy and murder in the case.
"It definitely made me nervous. I was just ready to get it over with," Nyjhah said after two hours of emotional testimony, and sometimes heated questions from lawyers for the accused.
She hugged her dad and prayed for her little sister. "We’re still seeking justice for 'Kiyah,'" she said.
They were almost always together. Mikayah tagging along that day while Nyjhay went to the pool and then down to the ice cream truck.
Nyjhay told jurors how they were sitting on their front steps eating sunflower seeds and pickled eggs when a black car pulled into Clay Terrace and four men opened fire.
“Where was Mikayah?” the prosecutor asked. Nyjhay broke down weeping.
“I wanted to leap across the stage. I wanted to leap over the fences and bleachers" and give her a big hug, said her grandmother, Pandora Wilson. "Because you know that was a hard one, having to relive that moment.”
Nyjhay grabbed her little sister and saw the horrific wound in her chest and stomach. Prosecutors say she held her hand and wouldn’t let go, even as a police officer started a futile effort at CPR.
“Strong, brave, it took a lot to get up there and relive that moment,” said Michael Wilson of his daughter's testimony.
Police blame a long-running neighborhood beef for the 50 shots over 20 seconds that killed Makiyah and injured four other people.
But defense attorney John Zucker hammered Nyjah for never mentioning the Wellington Park gang that prosecutors say is responsible.
First she testified she wasn’t aware of any neighborhood beefs, then she was forced to admit she did the day after the shooting, she named three other gangs to investigators, but never said anything about a feud between Clay Terrace and Wellington Park.
“When you live in the hood, you hear stuff, you don’t know whether it’s true or not. And for her to get up and say what she knew. I think they were just trying to confuse the jury," said her grandmother.
Prosecutors played a haunting music video. The rapper Lil Dude singing in the courtyard of Clay Terrace, and a bunch of kids rapping and dancing behind him. Among them was little Makiyah, bopping and smiling like she didn’t have a care in the world.