D.C. police said they arrested a teenage suspect — the brother of an NFL player — in a series of random attacks in Northwest Washington that left one dead and wounded two others.
D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said officers captured 19-year-old Michael Davis shortly after a fourth attack in the Petworth on Thursday night. Police recovered the weapon, a claw hammer, believed to be used in four separate attacks within the past 72 hours.
Davis lives in the 900 block of Emerson Street, one block from where the first victim was found. He has been charged with aggravated assault.
“I feel very much more comfortable now that this person is in custody,” Lanier said Friday.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Davis is the brother of 49ers tight end Vernon Davis. Davis tweeted, “Just got a disturbing call from back home in washington dc. A good day gone bad! Hopefully he wasn’t involved!”
Just got a disturbing call from back home in washington dc. A good day gone bad! Hopefully he wasn’t involved!
— Vernon Davis (@VernonDavis85) April 27, 2012
About 9 p.m. Thursday, officers involved in extra patrols heard someone yelling for help in the 800 block of Gallatin Street NW, and saw a young female on the ground suffering from an injury to the head. As they approached, a man in a nearby alley ran and police followed.
During the chase, the man tossed a backpack that contained a claw hammer. He was arrested in the 4800 block of Illinois Avenue NW.
The 19-year-old victim remains hospitalized.
Police are investigating whether this case is linked to the three other attacks in Petworth this week, including the killing of a 66-year-old tourist from Colorado.
The first attack happened about 6 p.m. Tuesday. The body of the first victim, Gary Dederichs, of Denver, was found leaning against a garage door in an alley in the 800 block of Emerson Street NW, a fanny pack on the ground by his head.
Nine hours later, about 3 a.m. Wednesday, a 53-year-old man was found unconscious in the road on the 4800 block of Georgia Avenue NW.
About 8:40 p.m. Wednesday, approximately 27 hours after the first incident, a 37-year-old woman was attacked in the 5600 block of Ninth Street NW. She suffered serious head trauma and remains hospitalized.
All three victims were walking alone at the time of the assaults. None appeared to have been robbed; each was struck in the head by some sort of blunt object.
Dederichs, a registered nurse, was a tourist who rented a room in the Petworth area for two weeks, police said.
