3 DC area murders on same day linked to credit card scam, court documents say

The murders of three people found dead in the D.C. area on the same day in December are believed to be linked after police say they were all involved in a credit card scam with another man.

On Dec. 28, police in Prince George's County and Washington D.C. investigated three different killings within an 8-hour span. Armani "Nico" Coles was found dead in the roadway just off of busy Interstate 295 in Maryland, Kerrice "Kay Kay" Lewis was found shot inside a burning car in a Southeast D.C. alley and Ronzay Green was found dead in a 7-Eleven parking lot in Northeast D.C.

According to court documents, Lewis was shot 15 times and left for dead inside of a locked trunk of the vehicle.

In the 10-page affidavit, it says multiple witnesses came forward to police to report that Lewis, Coles and Green were involved in a credit card scheme with Dennis Whitaker, who thought he was being set up for a robbery and decided to take the three associates out.

Whitaker was connected directly to Green's murder and charged on Dec. 31.

Police arrested Malique Lewis for Coles' murder on Jan. 16 thanks to a McDonald's receipt that was left in Coles' stolen rental car.

On Sunday, police announced the arrest of Ashton Briscoe. The Northeast D.C. man was charged with Kerrice Lewis' murder.

The court documents say all three victims had ties to the Clay Terrace neighborhood in Northeast D.C., a section of the city well known for violence. The affidavit also says shell casings and slugs found at the three crime scenes have been tied to a gun used in six different D.C. shootings. Two of the three victims were shot with the same gun.

Cellphone records also showed Briscoe, Malique Lewis and another man not identified in the affidavit were present at Kerrice Lewis' murder. Briscoe allegedly admitted to driving the getaway car after he says Malique Lewis and the unnamed man shot Kerrice Lewis and set the car on fire, court documents say.