A D.C. man with a history of mental illness was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday for shooting two physically disabled women in their Northeast Washington apartment while a terrified 12-year-old boy, watching his mother die, begged the gunman: “Please don’t get me! Please don’t get me!”

       Support our journalism. Subscribe today ArrowRight

       The youngster, identified in D.C. Superior Court as “J.H.,” was living with his mother, Alayna Howard, 38, and his grandmother Dawnella Howard, 61, in the Trinidad neighborhood when the shootings occurred on Dec. 7, 2019. The attacker, Vaughn A. Kosh, now 50, resided in an adjacent apartment and harbored delusional grievances against the family, authorities said.

       Shortly after 5:30 a.m. that Saturday, while Alayna Howard, an amputee, was in a bedroom with her son, and Dawnella Howard sat in a wheelchair in the living room, Kosh barged into the apartment with a .25-caliber handgun and shot the grandmother four times in the neck and left cheek, according to police.

       Advertisement

       Story continues below advertisement

       He then walked to the bedroom where Alayna Howard, who had one leg, was getting dressed for a kidney dialysis appointment.

       Recounting the attack in a court document, a prosecutor said Alayna Howard tried to protect J.H., repeatedly screaming, “Please don’t get my baby!” Kosh shot her in the face and neck as the boy looked on, pleading for his life. According to the prosecutor, Kosh replied, “If I wanted to get you, I would like I did your mom.”

       Alayna Howard was pronounced dead that morning. Dawnella Howard died long afterward in a nursing facility from a medical condition related to her wounds, family members said. She was quarantined from loved ones in the end because of the coronavirus pandemic. They said J.H, who was “a special-needs child” even before the shootings, now lives with a relative and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

       Advertisement

       Story continues below advertisement

       “I can never imagine or understand the terror and pain that J.H. had to endure,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Monica Trigoso told Judge Marisa J. Demeo in court Friday, as Kosh, in an orange D.C. jail smock, sat quietly, waiting to be sentenced. “He’ll always have the memory of seeing his mother in her last moments.”

       After his arrest, police said, Kosh described his animosity toward the family, saying he suspected the Howards had hired locksmiths to break into his apartment and that they were responsible for odors and infestations in the building, in the 1700 block of Capitol Avenue NE. The accusations were baseless, authorities said.

       Prosecutors said Kosh’s mental problems complicated the case. He was held in a secure psychiatric ward at the District’s St. Elizabeths Hospital for months after the attack until he was deemed sane enough to participate in court proceedings. There were also questions about whether he was legally culpable for the shootings, given his delusions at the time.

       Advertisement

       Story continues below advertisement

       As part of a deal with the U.S. attorney’s office, he pleaded guilty in July to one count each of second-degree murder while armed, aggravated assault with a firearm, assault with a dangerous weapon and misdemeanor assault. Trigoso and defense lawyer Elizabeth Weller agreed that his sentence should fall in the 15- to 20-year range.

       “We’ve given him a great benefit,” Trigoso told the judge in asking for a 20-year term, the maximum allowed under the plea bargain. In making the deal, she said, her office recognized that Kosh had been suffering from a mental affliction. “If this case had gone to trial,” she said, “given the amount of evidence, he could have faced” a first-degree murder conviction and life sentence.

       Weller asked for 15 years, saying Kosh “did accept responsibility in this case” and, by pleading guilty, he was showing compassion for the young survivor.

       Advertisement

       Story continues below advertisement

       “One of the main reasons he wanted to resolve this short of a trial and not fight about some legal details was to not put the child-witness through testimony,” Weller told Demeo. “And [J.H] would have been the primary witness in the case. Mr. Kosh appreciates the trauma that the poor child has gone through.”

       She added, “Essentially we’re asking the court for some mercy here.”

       Before Demeo imposed the 20-year term, Kosh looked up at her from the defendant’s table. In a wheelchair himself now, he addressed the judge in a low, halting voice, his remarks disjointed and suffused with woe: “I apologize for the pain I caused. I’m not a perfect man. I strive. What I’ve done is unbearable. .？.？. I understand that what I did was horrible. I understood too late.”

       Story continues below advertisement

       After a pause, he said: “I’ve been suffering pain. All my life, I’ve had to suffer. .？.？. I’m suffering now because I done hurt a lot of people.”

       Two slain in shooting at senior living apartments in Capitol Heights

       After escalating for years, a neighborhood feud culminates in killing caught on video

       Two sentenced to 18 months in dogfighting ring that spanned D.C., Maryland and Virginia