17-year-old charged in hit-and-run, robbery that left man dead in Northwest DC

Family remembers DC father hit, killed in hit-and-run robbery

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: A D.C. family is mourning the murder of their loved one who was killed during a fatal U Street hit-and-robbery.

WASHINGTON - A 17-year-old has been arrested and charged in connection to a hit-and-run and robbery that left a man dead in Northwest D.C. earlier this year.

What we know:

Police say 17-year-old D.C. resident Kyree Young has been charged as an adult with first-degree murder while armed in the death of 55-year-old Donnel Bracket Phillips.

Young made his initial appearance in a D.C. Superior Court on Wednesday where a judge found probable cause that he committed the murder. He was ordered to be held without bond pending trial. 

According to police, around 4:15 a.m. on May 7, Young saw Phillips get money out of an ATM and began to follow him. As Phillips was crossing the intersection at 12th Street and U Street, Northwest, police say Young hit him with a White 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe. 

Surveillance video obtained by police then showed Young and accomplices robbing Phillips before fleeing the scene, leaving him injured in the roadway. According to court documents, they later tried to use his bank card at the same ATM he had been using earlier. 

Phillips was pronounced dead at the scene. Police later recovered the vehicle and gathered other evidence that led to Young’s identification. The DOJ says it's still investigating Young’s accomplices.

Police believe the same people robbed two other victims at gunpoint in the half hour before killing Phillips.

READ MORE: Family remembers DC father hit, killed in U Street hit-and-run robbery

Dig deeper:

FOX 5 spoke with Phillips' family just days after the tragic incident back in May. They described the father of three and grandfather of two as a good-hearted family man.

"It's heartbreaking because it's like that was cruel. It was cruel and then and then y'all just left him there. They left him there. They just left him there. Then they robbed him. You stole for a man that you already killed. I don't understand," his daughter Tyshia Johnson said. "Because my dad I pray for the person that did it instead of wanting revenge.  Because ya'll took a good man. A man who stood for a lot of things and helped out a lot of people and didn't want anything in return."

D.C. police say the same people robbed two other victims at gunpoint in the half hour before killing Mr. Phillips.

"When I was sad, he had helped lift me…lift me up. Got me in a good mood," said Don-yel Houston, Phillips' granddaughter. "We've been best friends since I was born. He taught me so much."