TEEN FATALLY SHOT IN SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON HAD RETURNED TO OLD NEIGHBORHOOD

Several months ago , the Starnes family — a mother and three teenage children — left their Wellington Park neighborhood in Southeast Washington .

They wanted a better life somewhere else in the city , away from crime.

Another son, 21 - year -old MyAnthony Starnes , had already left to live with his father in suburban Maryland . He had a job and attended college.

But his younger brother, MyAngelo Starnes, 16, was apparently drawn back to his old apartment building at 2500 Pomeroy Road SE, where his friends still hung out. On Sunday, during a visit there, he was shot , struck several times in what police described as a gun battle . The Ballou High School student fell in an apartment entryway about 8 : 10 p. m . and died soon after at a hospital.

"He had an impact on anybody and everything that was in his life , " said MyAnthony Starnes, who helped his single mom raise his brother when he was young. " I looked up to him . I' m his big brother, but in reality, he was my big brother. "

MyAnthony Starnes and the victim ' s grandmother , Beverly Starnes, 56, said they heard from a friend who was at the shooting scene that MyAngelo was struck as he tried to get a bystander out of harm' s way. Police could not confirm that account and said they are still investigating the circumstances.

MyAnthony Starnes said his brother had made mistakes and learned from them , and had enrolled at Ballou . He said his brother had taken an interest in music and was training for a part-time janitorial job at Six Flags America.

Beverly Starnes spoke openly about her slain grandson's troubles with the legal system and said he had spent 10 months in juvenile detention for a carjacking.

She said she had a long talk with him . " I asked him , ' If it was me [who was the victim ], how would you feel ?' He knew he had made a poor choice . "

MyAnthony Starnes said , " I was trying to lead him on the right path. . . . He had been doing what he saw others do , hanging out with not- too - promising individuals . . . . But he was seeing a way out. " He said his brother was planning to try out for the school basketball team.

MyAnthony Starnes described a difficult life in the apartment on Pomeroy Road . He said drugs and guns were all the young people knew; he said he escaped by moving in with his father in Montgomery County. He had attended college in Pennsylvania , studying computer engineering , but stopped for a year . He ' s now taking classes at a community college in Maryland and said he hopes to transfer to Towson University, north of Baltimore.

He said he wanted the same for his younger brother, who has a different father who was not involved in his life . He said he told MyAngelo to avoid Pomeroy Road , but the lure of his old friends was strong.

"I told him he shouldn ' t be outside, " MyAnthony Starnes said . "I told him to call me , or call Mom, every time you go out. I told him , ' I want to know where you ' re at . ' He texted me at 4 : 15. He was shot by 8 : 15. "

Beverly Starnes said she had just arrived home from work at a store when she got a call about the shooting. She rushed to the hospital , expecting to find her grandson receiving medical treatment .

She got there too late .

"I didn' t expect to arrive at the hospital to see he had died , " she said.