In the daylight hours of December 23, 2017, a dispute between young men from different neighborhoods in Washington, D.C. escalated into a fatal shooting. Maleak Coffin, a 22-year-old male, was discovered unconscious inside a vehicle on the 2900 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, SE, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Emergency services transported him to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries. He succumbed to his injuries three days later, on December 26, 2017.
An autopsy later revealed he had been shot in the left temple and shoulder.
The investigation into the shooting led police to identify two suspects: Derrick Hart and Robert Washington. The incident, which was captured by a surveillance camera, reportedly began after a group of young men parted ways at a mini-mart. The footage showed Hart, then 22, running down an alley and firing at a vehicle stopped at a gas station. Washington, then 20, who was driving in the opposite direction, made a U-turn and drove towards the vehicle, at which point more shots were fired. Police recovered 21 shell casings from two different guns at the scene. It was rumored that the shooting was a retaliatory act for an earlier incident.
Derrick Hart was the first to be apprehended, on January 2, 2018, followed by the arrest of Robert Washington on January 18, 2018. Both men were charged with first-degree murder while armed. In June 2019, Hart, then 23, and Washington, 22, pleaded guilty to reduced charges of voluntary manslaughter. The plea agreement stipulated a sentencing range of five to eight years in prison. Coffin's mother expressed her profound grief and dissatisfaction with the plea deal in court, stating, 'This is not justice.'
During the emotional sentencing hearing in December 2019, members of Maleak Coffin's family, including his mother and sister, walked out of the courtroom in tears. The judge sentenced both Hart and Washington under the Youth Rehabilitation Act. Hart was sentenced to 14 years in prison, while Washington received a sentence of seven and a half years. Both men apologized to Coffin's family during the proceedings. The prosecution stated that the fatal shot to Coffin's head was believed to have been fired from Hart's gun.
