In the early morning hours of July 8, 2017, a verbal altercation in the Georgetown area of Washington, D.C. turned deadly, claiming the life of 19-year-old Kennedy Javier Amaya-Olivares. The aspiring rapper from Severn, Maryland, was with friends in the 3500 block of Water Street NW when they became embroiled in a dispute with the occupants of another vehicle.
The situation, described as a 'juvenile fight over heated words,' escalated tragically just before 3 a.m.
The argument, which lasted for about five minutes, culminated in Demarius Anton Jackson, a 25-year-old from Hyattsville, Maryland, pulling out a gun. While another man involved in the dispute had reportedly brandished a broken bottle, no other weapons were present until Jackson introduced the firearm. He walked up to Amaya-Olivares and shot him three times, with fatal wounds to the back of the head and the chest. Amaya-Olivares was pronounced dead at the scene. Jackson also chased and shot another man, who was wounded but survived.
Following the shooting, authorities launched an investigation and identified Demarius Anton Jackson as the suspect. An arrest warrant for second-degree murder while armed was issued for the 24-year-old. Jackson was apprehended on September 12, 2017, in Morgantown, West Virginia, by the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force and was subsequently extradited to the District of Columbia.
In May 2018, Jackson pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter while armed and assault with a dangerous weapon. During the sentencing, Jackson apologized, stating he made a 'terrible and rash decision' and believed his girlfriend was in danger. His defense attorney mentioned his client's grief over the loss of several family members. The judge presiding over the case described the murder as 'senseless' before sentencing Jackson to 15 years in prison, to be followed by five years of probation.
