Naima Liggon, inset, was stabbed over dipping sauce outside a McDonald’s in Washington, D.C. (Screenshots from local CBS affiliate WUSA)
A 16-year-old girl faces a murder charge in the stabbing death of her friend, also 16, outside a McDonald’s in Washington, D.C. in an argument about sweet and sour dipping sauce.
Police did not identify the accused assailant in the murder because of her age. But the girl from Waldorf, Maryland, was arrested on Sunday in the death of Naima Liggon, also from Waldorf, police said. She was charged with second-degree murder while armed, police said, adding she had a knife at the time of her arrest.
“At the end of the day, someone is dead over a dispute over sauce,” D.C. Superior Court Judge Sherri Beatty-Arthur said, the Washington Post reported.
The killing happened on Sunday in the 1900 block of 14th Street, Northwest, police said in a news release. Authorities learned about the stabbing at 2:10 a.m. when officers responded to a report of a girl seeking treatment for stab wounds at a local hospital, where Naima succumbed to her injuries.
The 16-year-old girl was arrested a block from the crime scene and pleaded not involved — the juvenile equivalent of not guilty in a hearing on Monday, the Post reported. She claimed self-defense, and the other girls started the fight, the paper reported, citing information from her defense attorney.
But prosecutors said the fight had been over when Liggon was stabbed.
“She was the only person who brought a knife to a fistfight,” prosecutor Priscilla Guerrero said, the Post reported.
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The victim’s mother, Joy Liggon, told Washington’s WTOP-FM she couldn’t understand how any fight could end in a murder.
“Naima was beautiful, smart … she was funny, unique. She loves life,” she said.
Liggon was set to start fall classes at Thomas Stone High School.
“This is a heartbreaking and tragic time for our school community. This is not the news a principal ever wants to share, let alone the day before we start a new school year,” said Principal Shanif Pearl in a letter to parents and staff, the station reported.
A neighbor told WUSA that Liggon was his son’s first friend in the neighborhood.
“We just moved here,” he said. “Beautiful, very intelligent young girl. My son’s only friend here. So he’s impacted by this, and I would imagine all the rest of the kids in the neighborhood are as well.”
The girl accused in the stabbing was held in juvenile hall with another court date set for Friday.
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