Teenager shot and killed in Southeast DC, possibly for his jacket

Tristan Johnson, 17, was a young man with plans — and the energy and determination to make them come true — says his godfather, Davian Morgan.

“When I’d talk to him about future plans, he’d be like, ‘Well, you know, starting a vending machine business or like owning my own trucking company,’” said Davian Morgan, Tristan’s godfather.

Pictures from Tristan’s life — his years at Ingenuity Prep in the District, then at Dr. Henry A. Wise High School in Prince George’s County — fill Morgan’s phone.

“He was very outgoing,” Morgan said. “So even if you didn’t know him, you knew of him, and he was eventually going to find his way to introduce you to himself.

Family members know Tristan was with some friends around 3 p.m. Saturday when he was shot and killed in the 1900 block of C Street SE, not far from the Stadium Armory Metro Station.

D.C. police sources familiar with the investigation say the suspects may have been attempting to rob the 17-year-old of his jacket.

As his family grieves the sudden, horrifying loss, they are finding some comfort from the outpouring of love from his many friends.

“At least 20 of my previous students found my number some way, somehow and they were like, ‘Are you okay? We’re just checking in to see if you’re okay. We’re praying for you,’” Morgan said. “And in my mind, I should be saying this to you

In his grief, Morgan says he has wondered about those thousands of federal officers and National Guard troops deployed to fight crime in the District.

“I think that is probably one of the questions right now that his mother is asking herself over and over and over again,” Morgan said. “Of all the places for it to happen, in broad daylight.”

Tristan was fatally shot just one block from the D.C. Armory, a hub of operations for the estimated two thousand National Guard troops deployed to the nation’s capital to fight crime.