On a Monday afternoon in Washington, D.C., 23-year-old Damon Dickens, a Black male, was fatally shot. The incident occurred on September 24, 2018, in the 2500 block of Bowen Road, SE. Dickens, who was visiting from out of town, was outside his grandmother's home at the time of the shooting. According to his family, they do not believe he was the intended target of the violence that cut his life short.
He was reportedly walking to a store with another person when a group of five individuals approached them, and one opened fire, striking Dickens in the chest.
The investigation into the death of Damon Dickens led to the identification of a 17-year-old suspect, Jamal Blocker. An unidentified individual who was with Dickens at the time of the shooting identified Blocker as the person who fired the weapon. Blocker was subsequently arrested and charged as an adult with first-degree murder while armed for his role in the shooting.
During the legal proceedings, Jamal Blocker accepted a plea deal. In a hearing on April 25, 2019, he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of second-degree murder while armed. As a result of his guilty plea, Blocker was sentenced to 18 years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release. He was to serve his sentence in a juvenile facility until he was old enough to be transferred to an adult prison.
