In a tragic turn of events on a Tuesday afternoon in Washington, D.C., 61-year-old Darryl Smith, a male resident of Southeast, was shot and killed in his sixth-floor apartment at the Parc Riverside luxury apartment building in the Navy Yard. The incident, which occurred shortly before 4:30 p.m. on February 4, 2025, was particularly grim as it unfolded in the presence of Smith's 2-year-old grandchild.
Smith, who was visually impaired and used a wheelchair, had recently been in the news for speaking out about the broken elevators in his building, which forced him to drag himself up and down flights of stairs.
When police arrived at the apartment in the 1000 block of First Street, Southeast, they found Smith on the living room floor with multiple gunshot wounds to his head, neck, chest, arms, and back. A bullet hole was also discovered in the back of his wheelchair. Despite being transported to a nearby hospital, Smith succumbed to his injuries about 90 minutes after the shooting. The alleged shooter, still at the scene when authorities arrived, was identified as Smith's 37-year-old son, De'Angelo Goldston.
The motive for the shooting appears to have been a domestic dispute, with reports indicating the father and son had been arguing over accusations that Goldston had stolen money from his father. The most heartbreaking witness to the event was Goldston's own 2-year-old child, who reportedly told police, 'Daddy shot pop pop,' and even physically reenacted the shooting for investigators.
De'Angelo Goldston was arrested at the scene, and a handgun was recovered from a bedroom closet. He was subsequently charged with first-degree murder while armed. In his statement to detectives, Goldston claimed to have been high on PCP at the time and had no memory of shooting his father. A judge later ordered him to be detained, and legal proceedings were set to address the competency of the 2-year-old witness.
