Monday, March 18, 2024

WASHINGTON – On Friday, March 15, 2024, Steven Metts, 18, Keondre Carroll, 21, and Jovontae Wallace, 19, all of Washington, D.C., were indicted by a Superior Court grand jury for first-degree murder while armed for the shooting death of Raymond Ballard on January 23, 2024 and the armed kidnapping and robbery on a Metrobus related to a January 24, 2024 offense in Southeast Washington, D.C., announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), Chief Michael Anzallo of the Metro Transit Police Department (MTPD), and Special Agent in Charge Craig Kailimai of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) Washington Field Division. 

            The sixteen-count indictment charges Metts, Carroll, and Wallace with one count of first-degree murder while armed, two counts of kidnapping while armed, one count of armed robbery, and four counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence.  Both Metts and Carroll are each additionally charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and other related firearms charges. The defendants were presented before the Honorable Heidi Hermann who ordered that all three defendants be held without bond pending trial.  

            According to the government’s evidence, at approximately 9:00 p.m. on January 23, 2024, the defendants drove their vehicle into the 3000 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE and fired approximately 29 shots, striking Raymond Ballard, an innocent bystander at the E-Z Mart. On January 24, 2024, the defendants drove that same vehicle into the 4600 block of Livingston Road SE and attempted to rob an individual of a Moose Knuckle jacket. When that individual fled onto a Metrobus, the defendants followed the Metrobus, boxing in the Metrobus at the intersection thereby restraining its movement. Two of the three defendants then exited the vehicle with firearms, boarded the bus, and took the victim’s Moose Knuckle coat. The defendants then exited the bus, got back into the vehicle, and began driving away while shooting at the bus.  

            This case is being investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department, Metro Transit Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Emma McArthur of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. 

            An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.