A Superior Court jury has returned guilty verdicts for defendants Tyiion Freeman, Koran Jackson and Stephon Nelson on first degree murder while armed, several counts of assault with intent to kill while armed, conspiracy to commit various firearms offences and other firearms-related charges stemming from the murder of 13-year-old Malachi Lukes on March 1, 2020, U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves announced.
Between February 1, 2020, and May 31, 2020, the defendants, along with two other defendants (whose cases were severed pre-trial), participated in a conspiracy to illegally possess, carry, and transfer firearms to use those firearms in the commission of dangerous and violent crimes. Jackson and Freeman, along with the severed defendants, are members and associates of neighbourhood crews.
Between 2019 and 2020, the defendants’ neighbourhood crews were feuding with other crews, and the feud escalated when Tahlil Byrd, also known as Slatt Goon, was killed in September 2019.
Stephon Nelson, who is a felon and approximately 10 years older than his coconspirators, supplied the firearms that were illegally possessed, carried, and transferred in the conspiracy. Over nine days, from February 22 to March 1, 2020, the defendants engaged in a shooting spree in the Petworth, Shaw, and Stronghold neighbourhoods using the firearms they illegally acquired and shared as a part of the firearms conspiracy.
The first charged shooting occurred on February 22, 2020, in the Petworth neighbourhood when two victims were fired upon after a mere verbal exchange with two defendants. Two days later, on February 24, 2020, the conspirators drove through rival crew territory, Ninth Street, where they shot three rival crew members. An innocent bystander who was sitting in her vehicle was caught in the barrage of gunfire.
She fortunately escaped with little physical injury because her front windshield suffered the bulk of the damage. The spree culminated on March 1, 2020, when the defendants participated in two shootings in two separate neighbourhoods over 10 minutes. At 2:08 p.m., the defendants, who were travelling in a stolen Kia Soul, followed 13-year-old Malachi Lukes, along with his three friends, into the Ninth Street area of the 600 block of S Street, N.W., where two defendants exited the Kia Soul and opened fire on them. Malachi Lukes was shot in the back as he fled.
The bullet travelled through his heart and lung, causing him to collapse to his death. The defendants then travelled to another neighbourhood where members of the rival crew were known to gather and, at 2:18 p.m., opened fire on individuals in that block. No injuries were reported in that shooting spree.
At the conclusion of the trial, jurors returned guilty verdicts against the defendants, including the gun supplier who was not present for the homicide.
