In Brief:
- Two teens were killed in Northwest D.C. this week, Ebony Franklin and Prince Okorie. No arrests have been made in either case.
- Timothy Foreman was charged with the death of Gregory Joyner.
- Rickey Pharr will be tried for the death of Angelo Jones.
- Charging documents against Larnell Allen and Kwan Kearney in the death of Joseph Alonzo Sharps Jr. became available.
- HWDC’s fundraising efforts on Spot.Us earned $100
On Monday afternoon (Nov. 29) the body of 17-year-old Ebony Franklin was found in a trash can in Columbia Heights. Franklin, a Capitol Heights, Md. resident who often visited her father in Northwest D.C., had been stabbed to death, a medical examiner concluded.
A vigil was held for Franklin Friday evening (Dec. 3). An acquaintance of Franklin’s family told the Washington Post that she was a student at Cardozo High School in Columbia Heights. Metro Police Commander Jacob Kishter, however wrote on a Third District listserve the day after Franklin was found that she was not a student of the school.
A date for a memorial or funeral has not been published according to HWDC searches. A memorial guestbook is online here. Metro Police have offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Franklin’s killer. HWDC invites you to share memories of Franklin here.
On Tuesday afternoon 16-year old Prince Okorie was shot in the head. According to the Washington Times, Okorie had been living in a DYRS shelter located near the scene of the shooting for about a month. He was not in the custody of DYRS, however. Okorie mourned the death of a friend last summer when Jamal Bell was shot to death after a dance party at a church on Georgia Avenue. According to HWDC’s searches, announcements for a memorial or funeral for Okorie has not been published. Friends have shared memories of Okorie on HWDC. Metro Police have offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Okorie’s killer.
Timothy Howard Foreman was arrested Thursday afternoon in Northwest D.C. and charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Gregory Joyner on Nov. 15. Carl Purvis is a co-defendant in the case.
Rickey Pharr was in court Tuesday for a preliminary hearing in a first-degree murder case. Judge Herbert Dixon ruled that there is enough evidence to try Pharr for the death of Angelo Jones.
HWDC posted the charging documents against Larnell Allen and Kwan Kearney in the death of Joseph Alonzo Sharps Jr. Allen and Kearney are due in court Friday for preliminary hearings.
HWDC’s fundraising effort on Spot.Us earned about $100. Thanks to all who have donated. Your efforts have helped us raise almost $600 toward our goal of $2,500 by the end of the month. An update about Homicide Watch D.C. is on Spot.Us. Here’s an exceprt regarding coverage of Franklin and Okorie.
We don’t know yet what happened to these teens. As much as journalists, friends, and neighbors clamor for answers, an investigation moves at its own pace. Which brings me to my main point and selling argument for this project: covering homicides is not about “if it bleeds it leads.” What happened to Ebony Franklin and Prince Okorie matters to me because they walked on the streets that I walk on and shopped in the stores that I shop in. How they are remembered, and that they are remembered means that in the District of Columbia it is not acceptable that these children did not live.
