MPD is investigating a death in Columbia Heights this morning, a listserv message from Third District Commander Jacob Kishter states.
It says:
The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating a death which occurred at 14th and Park Road at approximately 5:15 AM this morning.
Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Metropolitan Police Department at 202-727-9099 or or text at 50411.
In an email to the Columbia Heights community, Councilman Jim Graham said that the victim, a 42-year-old man, appeared to have been dropped from a car.
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The US Attorney’s Office has charged seven DC men with a series of gang, weapons, drugs, and violent crimes reported to have taken place in Columbia Heights, Adams Morgan and the U Street corridor since 2006.
Among those crimes are three homicides, including that of Jamal Coates, who was killed while leaving a friend’s funeral in the U Street corridor last year.
The indictment, made public this week, alleges:
The defendants and their associates in G-Rod shared numerous common factors. They were residents of or otherwise associated with the turf and its environs. They were dedicated to reserving their turf to their exclusive use for criminal and or legitimate use and to avoid detection and successful prosecution by law enforcement. They were prepared to commit and did commit acts of intimidation, threats, violence, and obstruction of justice to exercise that control, avoid successful prosecution by law enforcement, and enhance the reputation of G-Rod for using intimidation, threats, and violence and thus facilitate G-Rod’s control of the turf.
Two of the suspects named in the indictment, Marcellus Jackson and Keir Johnson, remained at large Wednesday afternoon and are wanted by authorities, people close to the case told Homicide Watch.
Others are expected in court Friday for a status hearing with Judge Thomas Motley. At least two of the defendants are expected to be arraigned at the end of the month.
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In September, Army veteran Patrick Casey died after a fight outside a McDonald’s near Dupont Circle. His death was ruled a homicide, but after an initial flurry of attention, police said evidence showed Casey was likely the aggressor in the brawl.
Today, the U.S. Attorney’s office says it won’t press charges in the case, and police are calling it a “justifiable homicide by citizen,” the Washington Post reports.
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Gregory Trotter and Ernest Pee Jr. were found guilty of felony murder yesterday in connection with the robbery of a check-cashing store in Northeast D.C.
Trotter, 59, and Pee, 50, could be sentenced to life in prison without release. Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 10.
The victim in the case, thirty-year-old Prabhjot Singh, was fatally shot in the robbery.
Reported the Washington Post:
Singh was killed trying to help one of the store’s customers during the robbery, said prosecutors Deborah Sines and Adam Schwartz. When Trotter grabbed a woman who was in the store, they said, Singh lunged from behind the counter and tackled him. The two men wrestled and rolled out onto the sidewalk, where Trotter allegedly yelled “get off me” to Singh before shooting Singh in the left eye.
“One shot was all Mr. Trotter needed,” Sines told the jury.
A press release from the US Attorney’s Office is after the jump.
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A man on trial for killing his wife was found guilty Monday of first-degree premeditated murder while armed.
Elizabeth Patrice Singleton was killed in her Southeast DC home in March 1999.
Said the US Attorney’s office:
During the last six months of her life, the victim, Elizabeth Patrice Singleton, 32, sought and received both civil protection and stay-away orders against [Lawrence] Davis, who had attempted to reconcile with her after he spent six years in prison.Read more
The following message went out to the Fifth District listserv tonight with the subject line of “Homicide.”
Tonight at about 5:30 pm, two adult men were shot near 21st and M St. NE.
One victim was unconscious at the scene and one taken to the hospital in critical condition.
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Memorial tag for Lucki Pannell
As we begin to take stock of this year’s deadly violence, we remember that victims are so much more than numbers. All year we have read their names, seen their photos, and heard from their family and friends in moments of grief, despair and sometimes, hope.
The art created in these victims’ memories has been heartbreakingly beautiful. In an attempt to honor the memories of this year’s homicide victims, and to recognize the work of the artists among us, Homicide Watch has launched an open Flickr gallery.
We hope you’ll join us by sharing photographs of memorial art that has touched you this year. Memorial art takes many forms, from street shrines to t-shirts to posters and nail art.
The gallery will remain open until Dec. 14, at which point we will publish it on HomicideWatch as part of our year-in-review coverage.
Add your photo to the Flickr gallery, submit it in comments here, or email it to Homicide Watch DC Editor Laura Amico at HomicideWatchDC [at] gmail.com. On Facebook? Share with us there in this album.
A good summary of the program charged with rehabilitating the District’s delinquent and violent youth is in Colbert King’s Washington Post column this week.
King explains the DYRS system and citing Ward 1 Councilman Jim Graham, states that
●16 young people killed in the District this year have been at one time under DYRS supervision or supervised by court social services;
●Nine people who are DYRS wards or have recently left DYRS because they reached age 21 have been charged with first-degree murder;
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An editorial today in the Examiner tackles Neal Godleski’s family’s $20 million lawsuit. Says the Examiner:
If it takes losing a $20 million wrongful-death lawsuit for Deputy Mayor B.B. Otero and Human Services Committee Chairman Jim Graham, both of whom have direct executive and legislative responsibility for overseeing this failing agency, to finally get the message that whatever DYRS is doing is not working, it will be money well-spent.
Read the full editorial here.
From the US Attorney’s Office:
District Man Sentenced to 13-Year Prison Term In July 2008 Slaying in Northeast Washington - Victim Was Shot With an Assault Rifle -
WASHINGTON - John Youngbey, 30, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 13 years of incarceration for the July 2008 shooting death of another man in Northeast Washington, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.
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