Do you know who murdered Aaron Black? On Friday, December 29, 1995, just after 12:40 p.m., gunfire erupted in the 1200 block of 8th Street Northwest in Washington, DC, leaving Aaron “Ernie” Black fatally wounded on the street. Aaron “Ernie” Black, a male victim, was struck by the shots in that block and, despite a swift response by emergency personnel, he did not survive his injuries. The scene was recorded as a daytime shooting in a central part of the city, and from the outset his death was treated as a homicide.
As officers and investigators arrived, the case was assigned to the Metropolitan Police Department's Homicide Branch, and Black's name was formally entered into the department's records as a homicide victim. In the years that followed, detectives issued a public bulletin and reward flier that identified him as Aaron “Ernie” Black and set out the basic facts of the crime: the exact date, the specific block of 8th Street NW, and the midday time of the shooting.
That flier explains that the Metropolitan Police Department offers a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible, and it urges anyone with knowledge about what happened that day to contact the police or submit anonymous tips.
Despite the initial investigative response and the continuing reward, the case has remained unresolved. The Metropolitan Police Department lists “Black, Aaron” among its major unsolved homicides from the 1991–2000 period, signaling that no one has been held accountable for the killing. Public summaries on crime-solving and unsolved-homicide sites reiterate the core facts of the case—the date, time, and location on 8th Street NW—while emphasizing that the circumstances leading up to the shooting have never been clearly established in the public record. Those accounts note that, over the passing decades, authorities have not identified or publicly named any suspect or suspects, and no one has been brought to justice for Black's death.
Today, Aaron “Ernie” Black's homicide remains an open case in Washington, DC, preserved in official unsolved-homicide listings and on dedicated case pages that continue to appeal for community assistance. The reward notice and the enduring presence of his name in those databases serve as a reminder that the investigation is still active in the sense that detectives are seeking new leads. Decades after the shots were fired on the 1200 block of 8th Street NW, the absence of any arrest or announced suspect underscores that key questions about who pulled the trigger, and why, are still unanswered, and that closure for this killing depends on information that has yet to reach investigators.
