|
|
| By: Associated Press |
| Published: July 11, 2006 |
| |
A British anti-Semitism activist and aspiring politician was killed in the U.S. capital's Georgetown neighborhood by robbers who slashed his throat and tried to rape his female companion, police said.
Within three hours of the attack Sunday, police arrested and charged two men, and two other suspects surrendered a few hours later.
Three of the suspects appeared Monday in District of Columbia Superior Court, where Magistrate Judge Aida Melendez ordered them held without bond pending a July 19 hearing. The fourth suspect, a 15-year-old boy, appeared in juvenile court.
Three assailants stabbed Alan Senitt and slashed his throat as the 27-year-old and his companion returned home from a movie, police said.
Senitt, who was active in Jewish causes, had moved to Washington last month to volunteer for the potential presidential campaign of former Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner and to study political fundraising.
"Our entire team is shocked and heartbroken," Warner said in a statement.
Senitt had joined Warner's Political Action Committee, Forward Together, on June 19 as one of about 20 unpaid interns, said Ellen Qualls, a spokeswoman for the former Democratic governor. "He wanted to work on our finance team and learn fundraising and donor relations."
Senitt had worked for Greville Janner, a member of Britain's House of Lords from Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor Party. He also was twice elected head of the Union of Jewish Students, which represents 5,000 college students in Britain, and ran unsuccessfully for a council seat in a London neighborhood.
"He was a serious contender for mainstream political life," said Danny Stone, a friend who leads the Co-Existence Trust, a group founded by Janner to promote Muslim-Jewish understanding. "He was up and coming. He would have been brilliant."
Janner, vice president of the World Jewish Congress, said he had worked with Senitt for the past year and found him "very bright, very hard working."
"He was a delight to work with and this is a terrible tragedy to a young man reaching his prime. He was an outstanding young man," Janner said.
Three men approached the couple brandishing a gun and a knife, demanding money and valuables, investigators said. One man grabbed the woman and dragged her down a driveway where he tried to pull off her clothes, said Lt. Robert Glover. She was robbed of her purse, which included a cell phone, keys and a diamond necklace, according to charging documents.
Two others attacked Senitt as he tried to intervene.
Investigators were looking for possible links to other crimes in the city.
Kristopher Piper, 25, was charged with felony murder and attempted sexual assault, authorities said. Jeffery Rice, 22, Olivia Miles, 26, and a 15-year-old boy also face murder charges.
The boy is not being identified because he was charged as a juvenile.
In an interview with police, Piper admitted to taking part in the robbery, and fingered Rice as the killer and said Miles drove the getaway car, according to charging documents.
Police found Rice at an apartment in Southeast D.C. wearing "what appeared to be a bloodstained shirt," the charging documents stated. He was stuffing items into his pants and tried to flee. Police found a pink cell phone and a card holder that contained Senitt's identification.
Rice also confessed to participating in the robbery, but claimed Piper was the stabber, according to the charging documents.
Rice told the other three before the robbery that he was going to "stab or gut somebody," the charging documents said.
Miles' mother, Russeline, told reporters outside the courthouse that her daughter knew about the killing but did not participate.
"She said something had happened, and I kept asking her what happened. She said 'they killed someone,"' said the mother. "She was in the car and this supposedly happened up the street. She didn't even see it. She said she was covered with blood ... and it really freaked her out."
Miles' attorney, Sean Staples, noted that only accusations against Miles is that she drove the getaway car.
"Her participation in it ... is to the smallest degree of the people charged," Staples said. |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Click on the blue headline to read a Talkback comment and respond to it. Click on the  icon to send a private email to the talkback writer. The icon appears only if the writer has decided to be contacted. If no popup window appears, please make sure your popup blocker allows israelinsider.com.
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
