A 17-year-old from Southeast D.C. was arrested Aug. 26 in the fatal shooting of 14-year-old Zytina Mason-Brown on Benning Road, Northeast.

The arrest, announced by the Metropolitan Police Department, was authorized by a D.C. Superior Court pre-petition custody order. The juvenile was charged with Second Degree Murder while Armed. MPD did not release the suspect's name. D.C. law requires juvenile case records to remain confidential.

Mason-Brown, of Clinton, Md., was shot on May 21, 2025, at approximately 5:08 p.m. in the 1700 block of Benning Road, Northeast. Fifth District officers who responded found her unconscious and not breathing with a critical gunshot wound. DC Fire and EMS arrived and, finding no signs consistent with life, pronounced her dead at the scene.

She was 14 years old.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide on Aug. 19, 2025, roughly three months after the shooting. The arrest did not come for another year after that determination.

The case is one of several recent juvenile homicide arrests in the District. A week before the Mason-Brown arrest, on Aug. 19, 2026, MPD used the same pre-petition custody order mechanism to arrest a 12-year-old in the Rosedale Street homicide of 13-year-old Ahmad Mims. That juvenile was charged with Voluntary Manslaughter while Armed.

MPD has not released additional details about what led to the arrest or the circumstances of the shooting. Anyone with information about homicides in the District can contact MPD, which offers a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction.