In the late evening of September 10, 2021, a burst of gunfire shattered the night on Kennedy Street, Northwest, in Washington, D.C. When Metropolitan Police Department officers arrived at the 100 block of the street around 9:41 p.m. following reports of gunshots, they discovered a grim scene. Inside a vehicle, 31-year-old Delonte Hazel, a male resident of Chillum, Maryland, was found suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
Emergency services rushed him to a local hospital, but his injuries were too severe, and he was pronounced dead.
The investigation into Hazel's death quickly became a homicide case. More than a month after the shooting, police released surveillance footage of a person of interest, seeking the public's help in identifying the individual. The trail eventually led to 44-year-old Kelvin Singletary of Laurel, Maryland. On December 28, 2021, members of the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force located and arrested Singletary, charging him with first-degree murder while armed.
Court proceedings revealed that the case against Singletary was built on a combination of evidence, including DNA found on a cartridge casing at the scene and surveillance footage from the area. Prosecutors presented images from night-vision cameras and a local store's security footage, which they claimed showed Singletary at the scene. A detective testified that although the shooting itself was not captured on video, Singletary was the only person seen fleeing the area immediately after. The defense attorney, however, pointed to potential conflicts Hazel had with other individuals, suggesting there were other possible suspects and that Hazel and Singletary had a prior altercation at a funeral. Despite these arguments, a judge found probable cause to proceed with the case against Singletary.
