Metropolitan police believe the murder of 22-year-old Omar Sykes, a Howard University student from Northwest D.C., was the result of a random robbery gone awry.
“We believe it was a random encounter,” Metropolitan Police Captain Robert Alder said at a press conference Friday. “We do not have any information that [the victims] were known to the suspects.”
According to police, Sykes was found at about 11:30 Thursday night suffering from multiple gunshot wounds in the 700 block of Fairmont Street Northwest; a second victim was beaten in the attack.
“Both victims were assaulted,” Adler said. “We are attempting to determine if anything was actually obtained, but right now we believe it was an attempted robbery.”
Adler said Sykes and his companion were walking down the street at the time two suspects, each carrying a handgun, approached them. Then, words were exchanged. Sykes and his companion were both beaten with “blunt impact injuries” and Sykes was shot, Alder said.
Sykes later died at the hospital.
Police describe one of the suspects in the fatal attack as a 5-foot-11-inch black male with a dark complexion, in his early 20s, dressed in dark clothes. The other is described as a 5-foot-10-inch black male with a short haircut, light complexion in his early 20s, dressed in a white shirt and jeans.
Police are collecting surveillance video from the area of the shooting, and MPD is offering a $25,000 reward to anyone that can provide knowledge that leads to the arrest and conviction of the suspects. Call police at (202) 727-9099.
