On a summer evening in Silver Spring, Maryland, the life of 20-year-old Jon-Christian Kemachet-Webster was cut short in a fatal shooting that authorities would later say was connected to a marijuana deal gone wrong. The incident unfolded on July 19, 2017, inside the home Kemachet-Webster shared with his family on Belvedere Boulevard. A call to the Emergency Communications Center at approximately 9:51 p.m. reported that an intruder had shot an occupant of the house and fled.
Responding officers found Kemachet-Webster on the upper level of the home with a gunshot wound. He was transported to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
The investigation into the death of the young man, a male, led detectives from the Montgomery County Police Department to identify three suspects. Within a week of the shooting, authorities announced the arrests of 21-year-old Re'Quan Kasim Hopson of Arlington, Virginia; 19-year-old Oliver Waltz Farley, also of Arlington; and 20-year-old Brian Anthony Mackall of Suitland, Maryland. All three were charged with first-degree murder. Investigators determined that the trio had gone to Kemachet-Webster's home with the intention of purchasing a large quantity of marijuana.
According to the police investigation, Kemachet-Webster invited Farley and Mackall into his home while Hopson, the driver, waited outside in a vehicle. The two suspects then went upstairs to Kemachet-Webster's bedroom, where the shooting occurred. After the fatal shot was fired, Farley and Mackall fled the residence. Mackall was seen getting into the vehicle driven by Hopson, and the two fled the area together. Farley escaped on foot and was later picked up by an Uber.
The breakthrough in the case came when Hopson was arrested in Arlington County, Virginia, on unrelated offenses the day after the murder. During an interview with Montgomery County detectives, Hopson admitted to his role in driving Farley and Mackall to the victim's home for the drug deal and driving Mackall away after the shooting. Following this confession, Farley was apprehended at his place of employment in Washington, D.C. Mackall was arrested a few days later, also in Washington, D.C. As of an April 2018 report, the three suspects were awaiting trial. While the victim's mother later referred to attending sentencing, specific details regarding the convictions and sentences for Re'Quan Kasim Hopson, Oliver Waltz Farley, and Brian Anthony Mackall are not available in the public records found.
