Washington, D.C. — Ford Law Pros, P.C. announced today that it has secured a $1.5 million settlement on behalf of the family of Devin J. Brewer, the 18-year-old Black resident of Lincoln Heights who was paralyzed in a 2021 shooting and later killed in January 2022 while seated in his wheelchair outside his home.
The settlement, reached in the case of Wright (mother of Devin Brewer) v. District of Columbia Housing Authority in Superior Court of the District of Columbia, resolves claims that the Housing Authority failed to provide safe housing conditions, despite years of violence, repeated warnings, and federal findings that the community was unsafe.
“Devin Brewer’s death was preventable,” said Attorney Yaida Ford, principal of Ford Law Pros. “This settlement provides some measure of justice for a young man whose life was cut short because those in power failed to protect him. No family should have to endure what Devin’s parents have endured — watching their son first paralyzed and then gunned down in front of his own home because of unchecked violence and systemic neglect.”
The lawsuit argued that the District of Columbia Housing Authority and its leadership ignored their statutory duty to provide safe and decent housing, even after multiple shootings and a federal consent judgment highlighting unsafe conditions at Lincoln Heights. By failing to act, the Housing Authority created the dangerous conditions that led directly to Devin’s death.
While the case has now concluded with a financial settlement, Ford emphasized that the Brewer family’s pursuit of accountability is part of a broader fight for systemic reform. “This is not just about one family’s tragedy — it’s about whether we allow public housing residents in Washington, D.C. to be left unprotected in communities that government agencies know are unsafe,” Ford said. “Justice requires more than a payout. It requires change.”
