Instagram bragging rights led to murder charges against teenager
Security footage from the outside of a Crown gas station in Washington, D.C. purports to show 17-year-old Lorinzo Thompson aiming and shooting at 14-year-old Niko Estep as Thompson’s mother looks on. Thompson is charged with second-degree murder and will be tried as an adult. Courtesy: Metropolitan Police Department warrant
A 17-year-old’s Instagram celebration of bragging about shooting and killing a 14-year-old boy at a Washington, D.C. gas station just days earlier led to his arrest and subsequent charge of second-degree murder while armed, according to Court records re-unsealed this week.
Lorinzo Thompson, 17, is attempted as an adult for shooting and killing 14-year-old Niko Estep just before midnight on November 3 outside a Crown gas station in the nation’s capital.
Surveillance footage from the crime scene appeared to show Thompson committing the murder as a woman identified by police, while Thompson’s mother looked on while standing directly behind him.
Thompson fired 12 shots from a 9mm handgun in seven seconds while aiming at two people, Estep and another unidentified teenager, police said. A third teenager was also in Estep’s group. The boys appeared to have been riding electric scooters past the gas station when, according to police, Thompson was alerted that they were there and within moments began shooting.
“As the scooters come into view of the camera, the suspect is observed holding a firearm in both hands in front of him and pointing it in the direction [Estep] and others on the scooters,” a Metropolitan Police officer wrote in one statutory declaration for a search warrant last week.
A motive for the murder was not given.
While Estep did not survive the shooting, Metropolitan Police said the other teenager did not survive the shooting Statement of November 10th, was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Authorities said that Thompson’s mother, seen in the footage wearing a white jacket and hat, made no attempt to intervene and that after the shooting ended, footage appeared to show her son leaving on a scooter without her Crime scene fled. However, she follows in the same direction just a few moments later.
Additional security footage obtained by police and included in the newly issued arrest warrant shows Thompson and his mother entering the apartment building where they lived just minutes from each other shortly after the murder.
In security footage from the apartment, the woman can be seen carrying a scooter illuminated with blue lights – the same type seen at the Crown gas station, according to court documents.
Although the shooting occurred more than a week ago, the arrest warrant was only made public this week when it was decided that Thompson – incorrectly identified in police and court records as “Lorenzo” Thompson – would be tried as an adult.
In one supplementary affidavitOfficials said they saw Thompson bragging about killing Estep on an Instagram Live feed on Nov. 6, just 72 hours after the killing. Thompson also allegedly used Estep’s nickname “YB” in the clip.
“The defendant shows no remorse during this program and appears to be celebrating with others [while he] shows someone turning to run and then falling after being shot,” police wrote in an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by Law&Crime on Wednesday.
“‘Caught,'” police quoted Thompson as saying in the feed.
Three days after police saw the Instagram video and during a routine patrol in a housing project in Washington, D.C., they reported seeing Thompson standing in a local yard. Knowing that he had an arrest warrant for Estep’s murder, they approached. Thompson initially resisted arrest, it was said.
A search of his home actually uncovered a 9mm magazine tucked into a backpack in his bedroom, court records show.
Thompson also became identifiable to police because they recognized him from a previous robbery and he wore pants that had a colorful, eye-catching pattern during the robbery. The same pants appear to have been worn by Thompson in the footage of the gas station shooting.
Thompson has been in custody since November 10th and is loud The Washington PostHe is scheduled to appear in court on Friday.
No charges were filed against Thompson’s mother.
The 17-year-old’s attorney, Joseph Yarborough, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Do you have a tip we should know? [email protected]
