Metro Weekly

Arrest in Shaw Attack

MPD announces arrest in Shaw murder case

The Washington Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) announced Wednesday, Oct. 15, the arrest of 18-year-old Robert Lee Hanna, of the 1100 block of McCullough Court NW. Hanna is being charged with the voluntary manslaughter of Tony Randolph Hunter.

Hunter, a 37-year-old gay man from Clinton, Md., died Sept. 17 from injuries sustained in a Sept. 7 attack, including a laceration to the back of his head. The incident was initially investigated as a bias crime in part because Hunter and a friend had parked in the vicinity of Be Bar, a lounge that caters to the gay community, which was their intended destination. The lounge is a 1318 Ninth St. NW, in D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood; while Hunter was attacked on the 1300 block of Eighth St. NW, around 11:30 p.m.

Two weeks after the attack, about 200 people gathered at the Metropolitan Community Church of Washington for a ”speak out” and memorial event featuring a candlelight vigil at the site of Hunter’s attack, calling for action against violence.

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