In the early morning hours of November 14, 2023, a tragedy unfolded in the 1900 block of Minnesota Avenue, Southeast, in Washington, D.C., that cut short the life of Nakysia Rachael Lemon-Williams. A 26-year-old Black/African American woman, Lemon-Williams was found with gunshot wound injuries at approximately 7:33 a.m. after Sixth District officers were flagged down about a shooting.
Emergency services transported her to a local hospital, but the injuries she sustained proved to be fatal, and she was pronounced dead.
The Metropolitan Police Department's Homicide Branch immediately launched an investigation into the violent death of the young woman, who was of no fixed address. As detectives worked to piece together the events that led to the fatal shooting, they offered a reward of up to $25,000 for any information that would lead to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for this crime.
Following weeks of investigation, a breakthrough in the case came on December 20, 2023. Detectives from the Homicide Branch, with the assistance of the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force, located and arrested a suspect. Twenty-four-year-old Yazmin Owens, also of no fixed address, was taken into custody pursuant to a D.C. Superior Court arrest warrant. Owens has been charged with the serious offense of First Degree Murder while Armed in connection with the death of Nakysia Rachael Lemon-Williams, bringing a measure of progress to a case that had left a community searching for answers.
