DC Man Accused of Shooting at Sleeping Stranger in Ridge Road Hallway

A 45-year-old Washington, D.C. man is facing a felony weapons charge after police say he fired at a stranger sleeping in the hallway of his Southeast apartment building last October, then evaded arrest for ten months. Antwan Gales was taken into custody on August 13 on an assault with a dangerous weapon charge tied to the incident on the 400 block of Ridge Road Southeast.

According to the Metropolitan Police Department, the case dates back to a few minutes after 3 a.m. on October 10, 2025, when officers say Gales exited his apartment and found a man asleep in the building's hallway. As reported by WJLA, police say Gales demanded the man leave the building, produced a gun, and shot at him multiple times as he fled. The victim was not struck by gunfire, per MPD.

Officers who responded to the scene did not find Gales there, and the case remained open for nearly ten months before a D.C. Superior Court warrant led to his arrest earlier this week. He has since been charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, according to police.

Why No Injury Still Means a Felony

Under D.C. Code § 22-402, assault with a dangerous weapon is a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of as much as $25,000, according to Ervin Kibria Law. The statute applies regardless of whether the victim was ever physically hit.

That's because D.C. law does not require prosecutors to prove a victim was struck to secure a conviction on this charge, per Koehler Law. Instead, prosecutors need only show an intentional, threatening act with a weapon that created reasonable fear of immediate harm — meaning the fact the victim escaped unharmed offers no shield from a serious violent felony charge. If convicted on a firearm-related offense of this kind, Gales would also be legally required to register as a gun offender with police within 48 hours of sentencing or release, remaining on that registry for two years, the same source notes.

The case also draws a sharp legal line between the underlying dispute and the response to it. An unauthorized person sleeping in a residential hallway can amount to unlawful entry under D.C. Code § 22-3302, a misdemeanor carrying fines up to $1,000 and potential jail time, according to a guide on unlawful entry law. But responding with a firearm rather than calling police escalates that same situation into a felony matter entirely.

A Block With a Violent Recent History

The 400 block of Ridge Road Southeast, in Ward 7's Sixth Police District, has seen a string of violent incidents in recent years. In November 2023, 52-year-old Marcus Little was shot and killed on that same block, according to WUSA9. A 42-year-old suspect was arrested and charged with first-degree murder while armed in that case in February 2025 — more than a year after the killing, per DC Witness.

Other violent incidents have clustered nearby. In March 2022, MPD's Carjacking Task Force arrested a suspect after an armed carjacking involving a hammer on the same 400 block. In February 2023, officers investigated a gun assault after suspects fired shots on the neighboring 300 block of Ridge Road Southeast, and in September 2025, officers arrested a 61-year-old man near Ridge Road and D Street Southeast after he brandished a weapon during an armed robbery. Further back, in February 2021, an MPD officer discharged a firearm on the 100 block of Ridge Road Southeast after an armed suspect approached officers and fired at them.

MPD reported the shooting and arrest details in the Gales case as part of its ongoing enforcement presence along the corridor. It remains unclear from available records what relationship, if any, existed between Gales and the man sleeping in the hallway, or what led the victim to be there that morning.