A 16-year-old was arrested Tuesday and charged in the killing last month of a 15-year-old in Columbia Heights, D.C. police said.

       The arrest was made in the April 11 fatal shooting of Malachi Jackson, in the 3000 block of 13th Street NW, police said.

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       At the time of the shooting, the victim was described as the youngest person to be fatally shot in the city this year.

       The suspect also appears to be among the youngest charged in a fatal shooting in the District in 2022.

       Although the number of homicides in Washington has been rising in recent years, few have involved victims and suspects who were both so young.

       The killing came as the city struggles to deal with violence, particularly altercations involving firearms.

       The victim in the Columbia Heights shooting was killed about 10:50 p.m. a few hundred yards from his family’s home.

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       He was a freshman at Roosevelt High School, and in an interview shortly after he was killed, his mother described a child of promise and potential.

       Malachi Jackson’s mother and grandmother say neighborhood tensions led to his killing

       He was creative and outstanding in math, she told a reporter. He was involved in sports and in making music videos, she said.

       He had a good heart, she said, was loving and caring, hoping for a life that was normal and happy.

       The 16-year-old boy arrested Tuesday was from Northwest Washington, police said, and was charged with first-degree murder while armed.

       The arrest was made by the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force on a custody order from D.C. Superior Court, police said.

       The statement reporting the arrest did not describe any motive in the shooting or name the suspect.