D.C. Slayings Equal 1988’s Record Level

WASHINGTON —  Five District of Columbia residents, including a 13-year-old girl, were killed within seven hours during a night of violence that ended just before dawn Sunday, police reported.

The killings pushed the city’s homicide toll to 369, equal to last year’s record. They occurred in four separate incidents in different sections of the city, police said.

Although police initially had reported 372 killings in the city during 1988, they later revised the total, saying that three of the incidents had been classified as justifiable homicides. The victims in those incidents were killed by residents or police acting in self-defense, said Lt. Reginald L. Smith, a police spokesman.

Among the nation’s largest cities, Washington had the highest per-capita murder rate in 1988.

In a double slaying that marked the latest of the killings early Sunday, Brenda R. Sams, 34, and her 13-year-old niece, Keaena Sams, were stabbed to death in Brenda Sams’ apartment, police said. Late Sunday, officials said, Steve Lewis Patton, 24, described as Sams’ boyfriend, was charged with two counts of murder.

Police provided only sketchy information about the other three killings, including one involving a man found with thousands of dollars in cash and a supply of heroin.

About 2 a.m. Sunday, police said, William Lawrence Broome, 41, died of multiple gunshot wounds. About $11,000 in cash and a large quantity of heroin were found in Broome’s clothing, police said.