In the waning days of 2016, a burst of gunfire shattered the daytime quiet of a residential street in Southeast Washington, D.C., claiming the life of Herbert Dowtin. The 22-year-old man was discovered lying face down between two parked cars on the 800 block of Xenia Street SE on the afternoon of December 27, 2016. He had sustained multiple gunshot wounds and was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries a short time later.
The investigation into the shooting led
authorities to 21-year-old Malik Hough. It was revealed that Hough and Dowtin had a history, including a prior argument. In a brazen act of violence, Hough approached an unarmed Dowtin from behind and fired a 9mm handgun ten times, striking him with eight of the bullets. After the shooting, Hough fled the scene, discarding the weapon under some fencing two blocks away. A police gun dog later recovered the firearm.
Less than two weeks after the fatal shooting, on January 6, 2017, Malik Hough was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. Investigators were aided by the fact that Hough was wearing a GPS tracking anklet at the time of the murder due to a previous, unrelated offense. He later cut off the device in an attempt to evade capture.
In November 2017, Malik Hough pleaded guilty to second-degree murder while armed. In his plea, he admitted that Dowtin was unarmed and that he had not acted in self-defense. Subsequently, Hough was sentenced to 29 years in prison for the murder of Herbert Dowtin.
