On the evening of January 17, 2023, 54-year-old Dale Henson was inside the Moonstar Chinese carryout on Benning Road in Southeast Washington, D.C., picking up a meal for a grieving family member when a triple shooting erupted just before 8:50 p.m. Two people outside the restaurant — a 15-year-old boy and a man — were struck. The wounded 15-year-old, while on the ground, pulled out a handgun and fired toward his presumed attacker. One of those bullets entered the carryout and killed Henson, an innocent bystander.

The initial shooter who targeted the teenager was never identified or apprehended. The 15-year-old was arrested and charged with second-degree murder while armed, but a D.C. Superior Court judge dismissed the murder charge, accepting the defense claim of self-defense; the teen was instead convicted of carrying a pistol without a license. Court records showed the youth had about ten prior arrests and was under supervision by the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services for a prior firearm offense. The teen became a paraplegic from the shooting and was given a year in the city youth detention system, though officials arranged for him to remain in his mother’s care for medical reasons.

Henson’s family mourned her as the backbone of their household and expressed profound grief and frustration with the legal outcome. Did anyone who knew Dale or witnessed that night see movements or people outside the carryout that have not been reported?