On the evening of January 17, 2023, Dale Henson, a 54-year-old woman, was inside the Moonstar Chinese carryout on Benning Road in Southeast Washington, D.C., picking up a meal for a grieving family member. Tragically, a sequence of events unfolding outside the restaurant would cut her life short. A triple shooting occurred just before 8:50 p.m., in which a 15-year-old boy and a man who were outside the carryout were struck by gunfire.
In the chaotic moments that followed, the injured
15-year-old, who was on the ground, pulled out a handgun and began firing indiscriminately in the direction of his presumed attacker. It was one of these bullets that tragically struck and killed Dale Henson, an innocent bystander inside the restaurant. The initial shooter who targeted the teenager was never identified or apprehended. The Moon Star Carry-Out, a neighborhood fixture for over two decades, never reopened after that fatal night.
Following the incident, the 15-year-old was arrested and charged with second-degree murder while armed. The case, however, took a significant turn in court. A D.C. Superior Court judge ultimately dismissed the murder charge, agreeing with the defense's argument that the teenager had acted in self-defense. He was instead found guilty of carrying a pistol without a license. It was revealed in court that at the time of the shooting, the teen had a history of ten prior arrests and was under the supervision of the city's Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services for a previous firearm offense.
The legal outcome was a source of profound grief and frustration for Dale Henson's family, who felt that justice had not been served. The teen, who became a paraplegic as a result of the shooting, was sentenced to a year in the custody of the city's youth detention center. However, due to his medical needs, officials determined it would be more appropriate for him to remain in his mother's care while receiving services from the agency. This decision further compounded the anguish of Henson's loved ones, who mourned the loss of a woman described as the backbone of their family.
