In the early morning hours of September 4, 2016, a dispute in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia turned fatal for 45-year-old Maului Lewis. At approximately 1:00 a.m., beneath the Market-Frankford El at the intersection of Kensington and East Allegheny avenues, Lewis was shot multiple times in the chest. Philadelphia police officers arrived at the scene to find him suffering from his wounds.
He was rushed to a nearby hospital but was pronounced dead shortly after his arrival.
The investigation into the shooting, which authorities believed stemmed from an argument, led them to identify Karl Howard as the suspected killer. For more than five months, Howard managed to elude capture. The search for him extended beyond Pennsylvania, with U.S. Marshals in Philadelphia eventually receiving information that he was hiding in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. They relayed this information to their counterparts in Norfolk, who then began to close in on the fugitive.
On January 17, 2017, the manhunt for Karl Howard came to a dramatic end at a house in Norfolk where he was believed to be living. When U.S. Marshals and the Norfolk Fugitive Unit arrived and ordered him to the front door, he attempted to flee through a back entrance but was met by officers. After a tense standoff during which other occupants of the house were evacuated, Howard refused to surrender. A Norfolk canine unit was deployed and discovered him hiding in a small space above a closet in a rear bedroom. Even after being found, Howard provided a false name to investigators in a final attempt to deceive them. His efforts were futile, and he was taken into custody. The following month, Howard was extradited back to Philadelphia and formally charged with the murder of Maului Lewis and other related offenses.
