20 seconds, 50 gunshots, a 10-year-old girl killed and 4 people wounded | Closing arguments begin in murder of Makiyah Wilson

WASHINGTON — Makiyah Wilson is the 10-year-old whose innocent face has come to symbolize the horrible toll of gun violence on DC’s youth.

On Tuesday, almost five years after she was killed in a hail of gunfire outside her home, the trial for six of her accused killers is finally coming to a close.

Prosecutors are offering closing arguments that will continue into Wednesday, and then the defense attorneys will get their chance.

The case is so complicated, the trial has taken three months to get to this point.

Prosecutors have been urging the jurors to follow the guns, the texts, and the social media, to prove beyond any reasonable doubt the six men are guilty of conspiracy and first degree premeditated murder while armed.

Perhaps most chilling is the brief surveillance video of the shooters climbing out of a black car and opening fire. In 20 seconds, 50 gunshots – four gunmen, one getaway driver, and six co-conspirators, according to prosecutors.

The hail of gunfire killed Makiyah and wounded four other people.  All of them outside their Clay Terrace homes on a sultry night in July of 2018.

Prosecutors say a round from an assault rifle left a gaping hole in the little girl’s chest and obliterated her heart.

They say Qujuan Thomas, Quentin Michals, Marquell Cobbs, Darrise Jeffers, Isiah Murchison, and Gregory Taylor – all between 21 and 26 years old – were all part of the Wellington Park criminal gang.

That they fired indiscriminately into the courtyard, the culmination of a years-long neighborhood beef – back and forth shootings and murders over turf and perceived slights.

Defense attorneys insist there are no eyewitnesses, no DNA, and no fingerprints putting any of their clients at the murder scene.

"My client is a rapper," lawyer Jonathan Zucker said during opening statements. "But just because he raps doesn’t mean he’s a killer."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Bach has been walking through hundreds of text and social media messages, including Instagram Live videos of the defendants waving guns and bragging about bodies dropping. She’s outlined guns and cars recovered from previous shootings that did have the defendants' fingerprints on them.

The six defense attorneys are likely to begin their closings on Wednesday and continue through Thursday.

And then, as the judge told jurors, it will be up to them to decide the facts.