Photo: Robert Michael/dpa (Photo by Robert Michael/picture alliance via Getty Images)
A Maryland man has received his verdict three years after ambushing his infant, the child’s mother, and her family with a murder plot. In April 2021, Keanan Turner arranged to meet his baby in Washington, D.C., for the first time. The visit ended with Turner fatally shooting two people and nearly killing his child and the infant’s aunt.
On July 26, 2024, a D.C. Superior Court found 34-year-old Keanan Turner guilty of the murders of Ebony Wright and her mother, Wanda Wright. As mentioned, prosecutors revealed that Turner also tried to off the baby using fire and shot its aunt, Destiny Wright, in the face, per a statement from the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office.
All of his guilty charges include two counts of first-degree murder while armed with aggravated circumstances, assault with intent to kill while armed, aggravated assault while armed, attempted first-degree murder of a minor, second-degree cruelty to children, arson, and destruction of property.
Trial evidence revealed that Ebony Wright had been in a romantic relationship with Keanan Turner when she got pregnant.
Turner let her know he wasn’t on board with welcoming a child and asked her to terminate the pregnancy. Ebony declined, so Keanan ghosted her. After giving birth, Ebony filed a custody and child support lawsuit in D.C. against Turner, per the U.S. Attorney’s Office statement.
The court served the Maryland man, who hails from Clinton, with the lawsuit. In response, Keanan reached out to Ebony under the impression that he wanted to meet his child. The father pulled up to Ebony’s apartment in Southeast Washington, D.C., on April 12, 2021. He spent nearly an hour in the home with the baby, Ebony, Wanda, and Ebony’s sister.
As the meeting approached the one-hour mark, the Maryland man pulled out a gun and shot Ebony in the head in the living room. He then shot her mother in the back of the head. Turner then found Destiny in a back bedroom and shot her in the face.
Before leaving the apartment, he lit the custody paperwork on fire in an attempt to kill the baby, the U.S. Attorney’s Office statement said. However, the aunt — who was wounded but alive — heard her infant family member crying. Destiny managed to rescue the baby, rush out of the burning apartment, and call 911.
After running out of the apartment, the Maryland man attempted to remove a Ring camera on Ebony’s front door. Instead, he ended up exposing a “unique tattoo” on his arm, eventually leading the police to identify him as the suspect.
According to a GoFundMe fundraiser from 2021, Ebony’s surviving sister Destiny will “ultimately raise” the child, identified as Grayson. The organizer of the account, Destiny’s alleged godmother, revealed that she’s a 3.5 GPA student at North Carolina A&T. At the time, the fundraiser sought to raise $150,000 and ultimately raised a little over $37,000 from 682 donations.
As for Keanan Turner, he is scheduled to return to court on October 14 for his sentencing. He faces a maximum of life in prison for his crime’s aggravated circumstances.
