On the evening of April 4, 2019, in the 4900 block of Nash Street in Northeast Washington, D.C., the lives of two young men were tragically cut short. Desimon Julio Richardson, a 21-year-old Black male from Temple Hills, Maryland, was with 23-year-old Jobe McDowney of Southeast D.C. when shots rang out at approximately 8:15 p.m. The two were inside a stairwell of a residential building when they were targeted in what witnesses described as a drive-by shooting involving two male suspects.
When officers from the Metropolitan Police Department's Sixth District arrived at the scene in response to reports of gunfire, they discovered a grim scene. Both Richardson and McDowney were found suffering from gunshot wounds. Despite the immediate response from DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services, neither man showed any signs of life and they were pronounced dead at the location. Their bodies were later transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The violence of that evening also left a third man wounded; he was found in the nearby 900 block of 44th Street, Northeast, with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound and was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
The investigation into the double homicide led to a breakthrough with the arrests of two suspects. Keith Anthony Johnson, 26, and Kevon Pinkett, 18, were taken into custody and subsequently charged with second-degree murder while armed in connection with the deaths of Richardson and McDowney. The Metropolitan Police Department had offered a substantial reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the shooting that shook the community.
