On the evening of April 26, 2022, Dejean Washington, a 34-year-old man, was found fatally wounded in Mobile, Alabama. At approximately 9:32 p.m., Mobile Police officers responded to a report of a possible shooting at the intersection of Center Street and Wood Alley. They discovered Washington near the roadway suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
He was transported to a local hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
The investigation that followed pieced together a sequence of events that began earlier that day at a motel in Tillman’s Corner. According to testimony from a Mobile Police detective, surveillance footage showed Washington getting into a van driven by Maranda Shardae Gamble, then 21. Investigators believed another individual, Jermi Anrichio Adams, then 28, was also a passenger. The detective testified that the theory was that Gamble had lured Washington into the vehicle to set up a robbery.
According to Gamble’s account to investigators, the group had planned to go to New Orleans but instead drove directly to the Plateau community. During the drive, Adams allegedly brandished a firearm. Washington reportedly tried to grab the weapon, and Gamble stated that Adams also pointed the gun at her. The situation escalated, and Washington was shot. He was discovered with four gunshot wounds, and police recovered nine 9mm shell casings at the scene.
A “Be-On-The-Lookout” alert was issued for the van, and Gamble was apprehended during a traffic stop in Georgia the next morning. After Adams was also taken into custody, both were charged in connection with Washington’s death. Adams was charged with murder and first-degree robbery, while Gamble was charged with felony murder.
In January 2023, a judge determined there was sufficient evidence for a grand jury to consider indictments against both suspects. Adams was denied bond, and Gamble’s bond was set at $100,000. Gamble later petitioned the court for youthful offender status, which would have capped her maximum punishment at three years in prison if convicted and sealed her court records. In May 2024, a judge denied that request, ordering that she stand trial as an adult. The cases against both defendants are proceeding through the court system.
