Man Killed in Metro Bus Stop Shooting

The man shot and killed on a Metro bus in Northeast Wednesday was the brother of 14-year-old Deonte Rawlings, who was killed by police in 2007.

His older brother, 21-year-old George Rawlings, was shot multiple times as he boarded the bus. His family thinks the shooting was a hit.

An attorney for the victim says Rawlings was hunted down. For the last weeks, he was in hiding after he was threatened and warned he'd be killed.

It was a brazen daytime shooting on busy H Street in Northeast. A bus hit with a hail of gunfire.

"It was like - boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Six or seven shots," said one witness.

Police say he had just returned from a funeral for a friend murdered on Halloween, and was shot in the doorway of the bus.

The Rawlings' family attorney says George was thought to be a witness to that killing, and had been in hiding until Wednesday.

"He left his home. He decided he couldn't stay in the same location that he was, because he knew people were looking for him. He had gone into seclusion. It appears they set a trap and executed their plan," said Gregory Lattimore, the family's attorney.

The victim is the older brother of Deonte Rawlings, the 14-year-old boy who was shot in the head and killed by an off-duty police officer in September 2007 following a confrontation over a stolen mini bike.

Despite his fear of the streets, Greg Lattimore says George Rawlings did not seek help from police because of how the investigation over his brother's shooting unfolded. Federal authorities ruled the shooting was justified.

"There was no way to turn to police when the fear of police was just as great as the fear of the thugs," said Lattimore.

The death threats were admittedly never shared with police, but they were made clear to the family.

"They were told they would kill him. We knew of the threat-- we knew it was serious," said Lattimore.

D.C. Police can't comment on ongoing investigations and do not reveal information about witnesses.

However, the Rawlings Family attorney says police didn't seek out George Rawlings as a witness to the Halloween murder of his friend.

In fact, the victim confided in his attorney even though he was being threatened, he never witnessed the crime.

Police are now offering a $25,000 reward in connection to George Rawlings' death.