Background: The apartment complex in Washington, D.C., where authorities say the shooting occurred (WJLA/YouTube). Inset: Zytina Mason-Brown (WJLA/YouTube).
A teenager in Washington, D.C., was filming TikTok videos when her friend tried to join in and she moved him away, leading to him gunning her down and then lying that she shot herself, authorities say.
A 17-year-old boy has been charged with second-degree murder while armed in the death of 14-year-old Zytina Mason-Brown, the Metropolitan Police Department announced. Authorities did not name the underage defendant.
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On May 21, 2025, Zytina, another girl, and the then-15-year-old suspect were in an apartment on the 1700 block of Benning Road in Washington, D.C.
Zytina, an eighth grader, was filming TikTok videos, the boy said, adding that he had stolen his uncle’s gun and she was playing with the weapon, local ABC affiliate WJLA reported. Suddenly, the boy claimed, Zytina shot herself in the head.
Police said that at about 5 p.m. that day, they responded to the apartment “for a report of a shooting.” Officers arrived to find the victim “unconscious and not breathing, suffering from a critical gunshot wound.”
First responders arrived and pronounced the victim dead. The boy was reportedly charged with gun possession.
In the ensuing months, the case began to change.
Police said that on Aug. 19, 2025, the medical examiner investigating the case determined that Zytina’s manner of death was a homicide. The evidence apparently showed that someone else had shot the girl.
Authorities reportedly said the other girl in the room had come to them months after the shooting and offered a different story than she did initially. According to the witness, Zytina was indeed making videos with the gun when the suspect began to dance close to her. She allegedly shoved him off, handed him the weapon, and sat down.
Then, he allegedly sat across from her and fired the gun.
They were all at the boy’s home at the time, and his mother was also there — and knocked on the door after the gun fired, per the area TV station.
The suspect ordered the girl to be quiet, she said, and they called the police. Other people may have also been in the room, and authorities have reviewed social media messages and apparent photos of Zytina’s body in an attempt to get to the truth.
The post 8th grader filming TikToks at friend’s house shot dead by 15-year-old boy when she rebuffs his attempt to dance near her: Police first appeared on Law & Crime.
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