In the winter of 2017, Jermaine Phillip Bowens, a 38-year-old male from Northwest Washington, D.C., was fatally shot. On the evening of Tuesday, December 26th, Bowens was in the 2200 block of Douglas Street NE when he was attacked. He was discovered lying in the street with gunshot wounds to his legs and buttocks. Despite the initial assessment that his injuries were not life-threatening, Bowens succumbed to his injuries at a hospital shortly after midnight on Wednesday, December 27th.
Before he died, Bowens was able to provide a brief description of his assailant, stating he was attacked by a man dressed entirely in black and wearing a mask.
The investigation into the death of Jermaine Phillip Bowens quickly led to a suspect. Police identified 18-year-old James Mayfield of Northeast Washington as the alleged perpetrator. Mayfield was apprehended on Wednesday, December 27th, following an attempted robbery. His arrest was connected not only to the death of Bowens but also to two other homicides that occurred in a short span of time.
Authorities charged Mayfield with three counts of murder for the deaths of Jermaine Phillip Bowens, 21-year-old Elijah Henry, and 17-year-old Jamahri Sydnor. Henry was fatally shot inside a residence just five blocks from where Bowens was attacked, on the same night. Sydnor, a college-bound teenager, had been killed by a stray bullet in August of the same year. Following his arrest, Mayfield also faced charges of attempted robbery and illegal handgun possession.
