Background: The scene of the shooting in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 2026 (WJLA/YouTube). Insets (from top to bottom): Mhilo Young and Tyale Coates (Metropolitan Police Department).
A teenage boy described by his family as sheltered was grabbing lunch from a food truck with a friend when they were gunned down in Washington, D.C., authorities say.
Tyale Coates, 14, and Mhilo Young, 12, were shot and killed earlier this month, the Metropolitan Police Department announced. Authorities have not announced an arrest in the double homicide.
On April 14, at about 3:25 p.m., Tyale and Mhilo were visiting a food truck on the 700 block of Kenilworth Avenue in Washington, D.C. The area is in the northeast part of the city, where both teens lived.
Tyale wasn't allowed outside in his neighborhood and he had a 7:30 p.m. curfew, his family told local ABC affiliate WJLA. His mother apparently walked him everywhere, but just recently, his parents let him ride the bus home from school for the first time.
On this specific day, Tyale had reportedly asked his mother if he could get some food from the new food truck down the street. She obliged.
"He had permission to be where he was at, and he just got there, 'cause I was just on the phone with his mom when he asked," his aunt, Morgan Wingate, told the TV station.
Seconds after he got his food, multiple people started firing guns at someone in the parking lot, police said. Sixty shots were fired, and Tyale and Mhilo were both struck.
Officers arrived on the scene to find both boys with gunshot wounds. Tyale was pronounced dead at the scene, while Mhilo was brought to an area hospital, where he died.
Wingate said Tyale's mother called her. "She was screaming. She was screaming," she recounted. "I'm like, 'what?' She was like, 'They shot my son.'"
Tyale's family said he loved to fish with his uncles and dad and was just starting to learn how to drive.
The Metropolitan Police Department is offering a $50,000 reward "for information which leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible" for the homicides. Anyone with information is asked to contact them at (202) 727-9099.
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