On a summer evening in Washington, D.C., the sound of gunshots pierced the air in the Shaw neighborhood. When police arrived at the 800 block of R Street, Northwest on July 24, 2018, they discovered a man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. The victim, identified as 46-year-old Paul Williams Jr. of Southeast, DC, was rushed to a local hospital.
Despite all lifesaving efforts, he was pronounced dead.
The investigation into the death of the male victim led authorities to identify a suspect. By February of the following year, the Metropolitan Police Department announced they were searching for 37-year-old Juvon Julian Searles in connection with the fatal shooting. A warrant was issued for his arrest, charging him with second-degree murder while armed. Searles was described as a Black man, standing 6'1' tall and weighing 249 pounds. He was considered to be armed and dangerous, and a reward of up to $25,000 was offered for information leading to his arrest and conviction.
After a lengthy search, Juvon Searles, then 38 years old and of no fixed address, was apprehended on February 10, 2020. Members of the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force made the arrest pursuant to the D.C. Superior Court warrant. Following his arrest, the case against Searles proceeded through the court system. In January 2021, a judge found that there was sufficient evidence to move the case to trial. The evidence presented included surveillance footage from a nearby metro station that showed an individual leaving the scene after the shooting. The court determined that the multiple gunshot wounds established probable cause for the charge of second-degree murder while armed.
