Anthony Wade, Antwain Bailey Plead Guilty in Fatal SE D.C. Shooting

The bloodshed began with fists and ended with bullets. On March 9, 2016, in the 800 block of Chesapeake Street SE, a street fight spiraled into a fatal execution when Anthony Wade, 31, of Washington, D.C., opened fire on 27-year-old Aubrey Dansbury after a heated clash turned deadly. What started as a verbal dispute between Dansbury and Antwain Bailey, 47, of Temple Hills, Md., erupted into a violent confrontation that left one man dead and two now facing long stretches behind bars.

Wade and Bailey entered guilty pleas on January 12, 2017, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Wade pled guilty to second-degree murder while armed, while Bailey admitted to voluntary manslaughter while armed. The pleas, still pending judicial approval, recommend a prison term of 15 to 24 years for Wade and a fixed 13-year sentence for Bailey. Judge Milton C. Lee scheduled a hearing for May 19, 2017, to determine final acceptance of the agreements.

According to prosecutors, the violence unfolded rapidly. After a shouting match between Bailey and Dansbury inside an apartment, Wade called his uncle and rushed to the scene. He confronted Dansbury outside, and the two men began exchanging punches. Bystanders tried to pull them apart, but the fight raged on—until Bailey arrived in a black Lexus sedan. He parked, stepped out, and as the two men clashed again, he walked Wade to the front of the vehicle and handed him a gun.

Wade opened fire. At least two shots missed their mark—the weapon jammed. He passed it back to Bailey, who cleared the malfunction and returned it. Armed again, Wade pursued Dansbury around the car as the victim scrambled for cover. Dansbury dove into the back seat of the Lexus, but it offered no sanctuary. Wade fired multiple rounds into the vehicle, striking Dansbury repeatedly. The victim staggered out and collapsed on the sidewalk, bleeding out from fatal wounds. He died eight days later, on March 17, 2016.

After the shooting, Bailey slid into the driver’s seat and Wade into the back. The black sedan sped away from the crime scene, leaving behind a trail of shell casings and a grieving family. Police and federal investigators, led by the Metropolitan Police Department, pieced together witness accounts, forensic evidence, and timeline data to build the case that ultimately forced both men to admit their roles in the killing.

U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips credited the MPD’s relentless investigation, as well as the work of Victim/Witness Advocate Diana Lim and Paralegal Specialist Lashone Samuels. He also highlighted the prosecution team—Assistant U.S. Attorneys Adrienne Dedjinou, Matthew Massey, and Allessandra Stewart—for securing the guilty pleas in a case that laid bare the deadly escalation of street violence in the nation’s capital.