The D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office is ramping up its efforts to link suspects to illegal guns found in homes, cars and backpacks, filing search warrants for DNA and using multiple labs to get it tested.
During President Donald Trump’s crime emergency that began in August, officials boasted about seizing more than 380 illegal guns, but linking those guns to people has been a challenge.
On Oct. 30, 2024, D.C. police officers watched Jerrod Childs leave a suspected “drug house” on Ninth Street SE and got a warrant to search inside, according to a document filed in federal court. Inside, officers found drugs and guns, police said, and one of those guns has been linked to Childs.
In the court filing, police wrote, “DNA testing confirmed results consistent with the presence of Childs’ DNA on the Glock.”
At another address police say was linked to Childs, they found assault pistols and handguns.
Childs has not yet gone to trial.
DNA has been used to link suspects to guns for years, but in a recent filing in Superior Court, the U.S. Attorney’s Office revealed it now uses multiple labs to test those seized guns, noting Signature Science, Bode Cellmark and DNA International Lab are the labs being used.
The court filing also notes it can take several months for results.
At a news conference this week, News4 asked U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro about the use of all three labs.
“We are using as many labs that are certifiable that we can to move these cases along,” she said. “We want to make sure that justice is swift and it is certain. And I will use whatever resources are out there to get the DNA to connect the individual to a gun.”
When police pull over a car with multiple people and they find a gun inside, it’s common for investigators to file search warrants for their DNA.
A few weeks ago, a D.C. police sergeant was arrested and charged with fleeing a federal law enforcement officer, but he could be facing much more serious charges if DNA can link him to any of the guns police say they found inside his car, including one with a giggle switch that turns a handgun into a machine gun.
Police filed a search warrant for Sgt. Montez Clark’s DNA, and investigators are waiting for the results.
As for the guns taken off the streets during the surge, the U.S. attorney says they now number more than 400.
“I really think that Washington, D.C., should be grateful for what has happened here,” Pirro said. “We are preventing crimes from occurring by taking guns off the street.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office provided News4 with press releases from three recent cases in which prosecutors won convictions after DNA linked suspects to the gun used in the crime.
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