A 12-year-old boy charged in the killing of Ahmad Mims will move from a D.C. detention facility to a youth shelter after a psychiatrist found him incompetent to stand trial.

D.C. Superior Court Judge Kendra Briggs ordered the transfer during a Monday, Sept. 28, status hearing, as WUSA9 first reported. A Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) psychiatrist evaluated the boy and concluded he is not competent to stand trial. The psychiatrist also wrote to Briggs saying the Youth Services Center (YSC) is not the appropriate place to hold him.

The incompetency finding halts the case. Briggs told the boy and his mother, who attended the hearing virtually, that the matter cannot move forward until competency is restored.

Ahmad Mims, 13, was shot and killed on the 1600 block of Rosedale Street in Northeast on July 11, according to the Metropolitan Police Department. DC Fire and EMS pronounced him dead at the scene. He was a rising eighth grader at KIPP Northeast Charter School.

Members of the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested the 12-year-old on Aug. 19 under a D.C. Superior Court pre-petition custody order. He was charged with voluntary manslaughter while armed.

Since his arrest, the boy has been held at YSC, the DYRS detention facility at 1000 Mount Olivet Road NE. Officials learned other children had allegedly threatened him inside the facility. DYRS kept him in the intake unit and allowed him on the floor only with the girls' unit. A DYRS official said the person believed to have made the threats is no longer at YSC, but the investigation is ongoing.

Briggs ordered the boy moved to a shelter house when a spot opens up. He will wear an electronic monitor, remain under a 24-hour curfew, receive no weekend passes home and enroll in competency classes aimed at restoring his ability to stand trial.

Briggs said she does not believe returning the boy to his mother's home is safe. "There were handguns, multiple, found in the home in which he resided … Home is not an option for this court," she said.

YSC conditions have drawn broader scrutiny. A Council for Court Excellence report found the facility's population surged 50% in two years, reaching 115 as of October 2025, WJLA reported. Youth-on-youth assaults averaged 34.4 per month in 2025, up from 19.4 in 2023. The facility was designed for short-term detention, not long-term placement.

The boy's next status hearing is scheduled for Oct. 21.