A King County Superior Court judge sentenced 16-year-old Derreon Johnson to more than 10 years in confinement Friday for the stray bullet that killed 10-year-old Anfa Mahamud as she slept beside her younger siblings in a Skyway apartment. Johnson had pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the shooting, which happened in the early morning hours of May 23, 2024, at the Creston Point Apartments.
According to KING5, Judge Nelson Lee imposed the high end of the sentencing range on both counts, telling the courtroom, “I am going to impose high end to both counts.” Anfa Mahamud’s loved ones addressed the court through an interpreter, and her mother told the court she lost her daughter and the future she had with her. Johnson apologized to Mahamud’s family during the hearing, the station reported.
A Bullet Through the Wall
Mahamud was 10 years old and asleep next to her siblings, ages 3 and 5, when the gunfire tore through the building. The girl was struck in the head by a bullet that came through her bedroom wall, according to The Seattle Times. She later died from her injuries at Harborview Medical Center.
Prosecutors alleged Johnson fired 16 rounds from a 9mm handgun at three teenagers in a stolen car outside the Skyway apartment complex, per the same newspaper’s reporting. One of those rounds pierced the wall of a building, went through a headboard and killed Mahamud as she slept in her bed, the Times reported. Johnson was 16 years old at the time.
A Dispute Over a Marijuana Deal
Investigators traced the gunfire to a dispute among teenagers over a marijuana deal that escalated into violence. Per probable-cause information cited by KING5, a group of juveniles had gone to the area to buy marijuana before a disagreement over price preceded the shooting. Detectives built their case using surveillance video, physical evidence at the scene and social media, the station noted.
Court documents reviewed by KING5 indicate Johnson fired 10 more rounds into the air with the same gun at the same apartment complex about a month after the fatal shooting. A witness told investigators that Johnson admitted firing the shots that hit Mahamud, according to the station’s reporting. King County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Johnson on July 16, 2024, at the Creston Point Apartments.
A Deadlier Year for King County Kids
Mahamud’s death came amid what the Times described as a sharp rise in young victims of gun violence across King County. At least 17 children under 18 were killed in King County homicides in 2024, more than double the seven juveniles killed in all of 2023, and all but one of those child victims died by gunfire, according to the Times.
The same report noted that prosecutors had filed nine murder cases against people under 18 in all of 2016 and had already matched that number by the middle of 2024. Separately, King County reported that juvenile violent-felony filings rose 57 percent in 2023 compared with 2022, and were up 146 percent from 2021.
How Washington Sentences Juvenile Offenders
Under state law, courts must apply the juvenile offender sentencing schedule in cases like Johnson’s, with judges able to select from sentencing options A, B, C or D, according to the Washington State Legislature. Separate state statute specifies that when an offender is sentenced for more than one offense, any firearm enhancement must be added to the total period of confinement for all offenses, regardless of which underlying charge carries the enhancement, per the Washington State Legislature’s code on sentencing adjustments.
