In the winter of 2018, a burst of gunfire shattered the late morning calm in the Fairlawn neighborhood of Southeast Washington, D.C., tragically ending the life of 23-year-old Jasmine Lashai Light. On Wednesday, January 17th, at approximately 11:09 a.m., Light was standing outside a convenience store in the 2000 block of 16th Street SE when a light-colored sedan drove by and a gunman opened fire. Light was the most severely wounded of four people struck by the hail of bullets.
The three other victims, all men, sustained injuries that were not considered life-threatening.
The shooting occurred with a brazen disregard for public safety in the middle of the day, just as the mayor and police chief were holding a press conference nearby to address another recent homicide. The sound of sirens from the response to Jasmine's shooting interrupted their address. Light was not the intended target of the attack. She was remembered by the police chief as a young woman who had, by all accounts, turned her life around after some difficulties in her teenage years.
In the months following the tragic shooting, the Metropolitan Police Department investigated the homicide. Their efforts led to the arrest of 21-year-old Torey G. Stockton of District Heights, Maryland. Investigators believe Stockton was the gunman who fired at least 15 shots from the moving vehicle. The motive for the shooting was reportedly an act of misdirected retaliation. Stockton was allegedly enraged over the theft of his gold-plated Glock pistol and opened fire on a group of people he believed were acquainted with the person who stole his weapon. Jasmine Lashai Light was an innocent bystander caught in the senseless violence. Stockton was subsequently charged with first-degree murder.
