Investigators say a witness later changed her account of the 2025 shooting, challenging an early claim that the girl accidentally shot herself.
WASHINGTON — A 17-year-old boy has been charged with second-degree murder while armed in the death of 14-year-old Zytina Mason-Brown, more than a year after the Maryland eighth grader was fatally shot inside a Northeast Washington residence.
The Metropolitan Police Department announced the arrest Aug. 26, saying the teenager from Southeast Washington was taken into custody under a D.C. Superior Court pre-petition custody order. Mason-Brown, of Clinton, Maryland, died May 21, 2025, after she was shot in the 1700 block of Benning Road NE. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner later ruled her death a homicide. Because the accused is a juvenile, police have not publicly released his name. The charge is an allegation, and the teenager is presumed innocent unless found responsible through the court process.
Officers were called to the Benning Road residence at about 5:08 p.m. on the day of the shooting, according to police. They found Mason-Brown unconscious and not breathing with a gunshot wound. D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services personnel responded but found no signs of life, and she was pronounced dead at the scene. The medical examiner formally classified the death as a homicide on Aug. 19, 2025, nearly three months after the shooting.
The circumstances surrounding the shooting became more complicated as the investigation continued. At an Aug. 27 court hearing, an MPD detective testified that the boy, who was 15 at the time of Mason-Brown’s death, initially told investigators she had accidentally shot herself while handling a firearm, according to news reports on the hearing. A second teenager who was in the room initially gave investigators an account that supported that version of events.
The witness later returned to investigators and provided a different account, according to the detective’s testimony. She alleged that Mason-Brown had been recording TikTok videos when the boy began dancing close to her. The witness said Mason-Brown pushed him away and that he later shot her. That account is an allegation presented during the investigation and has not been established as fact at trial.
News reports on the court hearing said the witness told investigators that the boy’s mother began knocking on the door after hearing the gunshot and that the boy told the witness not to speak. Authorities were called soon afterward. Police testimony also indicated the witness was arrested in June after investigators determined she had previously provided false information. Officials have not publicly released the witness’s identity.
The new account marked a major shift from the early public understanding of Mason-Brown’s death. Shortly after the shooting in 2025, police initially said their preliminary investigation suggested she had been handling a firearm while making a social media video when it discharged. Her family publicly questioned that account. The later homicide ruling and the arrest of the teenage boy changed the direction of the case, but prosecutors will still have to prove the allegations in court.
Police have released only limited information about the evidence that led to the arrest. The department’s Aug. 26 announcement did not discuss the witness testimony, describe forensic evidence or identify a motive. It said only that the 17-year-old had been arrested and charged with second-degree murder while armed. Details about the changing witness account emerged through testimony at the post-arrest hearing reported by news organizations.
Mason-Brown was 14 and living in Clinton at the time of her death. Police publicly identified her after the medical examiner classified the case as a homicide and later issued a reward bulletin seeking information about the killing. Investigators continued working on the case for roughly 15 months before announcing the arrest.
The accused teenager remains unidentified because of his age. Publicly available information did not establish whether prosecutors will seek to have the case handled outside the juvenile system, and authorities have not announced a final trial schedule. The Metropolitan Police Department has said the homicide investigation remains ongoing.
Author note: Last updated August 31, 2026.