On a late Saturday night in Washington, D.C., a young man’s life was cut short in a sudden burst of violence. Anthony Lee, a 25-year-old male, was walking with a companion along Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE on September 26, 2020. At approximately 11:22 p.m., as they crossed Malcolm X Avenue, a group of individuals opened fire. Lee was struck in the back by a single bullet.
Emergency services arrived at the scene and transported him to a local hospital, but his injuries proved fatal, and he was pronounced dead.
The Metropolitan Police Department launched a homicide investigation, which led to the identification of three suspects. The first arrest was made on October 19, 2020, when police apprehended 29-year-old Niko James Hall of Southeast, D.C. He was charged with first-degree murder while armed. About a month later, on November 18, 2020, a second suspect, 18-year-old Kyrie Wells of Southeast, D.C., was also taken into custody and faced the same charge.
The investigation continued, and eventually, a third individual, Darquise Montgomery, who was 17 at the time of the shooting, was also charged. The legal process that followed saw two of the suspects enter into plea agreements. Kyrie Wells pleaded guilty to second-degree murder while armed and was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Darquise Montgomery also pleaded guilty to the same charge and received a 12-year prison sentence. The third defendant, Niko Hall, initially rejected a plea deal but later pleaded guilty. The motive for the shooting was not publicly disclosed.
