A D.C. man who admitted taking part in the deadly botched robbery of a 14-year-old boy in Southeast Washington was sentenced to 20 years in prison Tuesday for second-degree murder and attempted armed robbery.

       Wp Get the full experience.Choose your plan ArrowRight

       Anthony D. Allen, now 25, was initially charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Steve Slaughter, a high school freshman gunned down about 7 p.m. on Jan. 14, 2018, as he and two friends were walking along Minnesota Avenue SE with snacks and sodas they had just bought at a 7-Eleven. The other boys, also 14 at the time, escaped unharmed.

       Allen pleaded guilty to the reduced charges in December 2018 as part of a plea agreement with the U.S. attorney’s office in the District.

       Story continues below advertisement

       According to an affidavit filed in D.C. Superior Court, Allen told police after his arrest in March 2018 that he and two companions were riding in a stolen Mercedes on the night of the robbery, with Allen driving, when they saw the three youngsters leaving a 7-Eleven near the corner of Minnesota Avenue and Good Hope Road SE. The boys were headed back to an apartment — the home of Steve’s aunt — where they had been playing video football that Sunday night, the eve of Martin Luther King Day.

       Slow-motion massacre

       Allen said one of his cohorts got out of the Mercedes to rob the boys and then opened fire with a .45-caliber pistol after Steve and his friends started to run. The surviving boys later said that they had only a few dollars between them and that Steve had no money. The robbers drove off in the Mercedes with nothing.

       Steve, a youth football player who dreamed of a college athletic scholarship, was shot three times and died in a hospital that night.

       D.C. police said no additional arrests have been made.