April Homicides Decrease Two-Thirds from March

By D.C. Witness Staff - May 11, 2022
Data | Featured | Homicides | Shooting | stabbing | Suspects | Victims |

D.C. Witness data shows an approximately 67 percent decrease in homicides in April from the previous month.

There were nine recorded homicides in April, down from the 15 homicides recorded in March and an approximate 189 percent decrease from April 2021, according to the data.

All of April’s homicide victims, except for one, died in shootings.

The majority of victims were killed in Northeast, DC.

Arrests have been made in reference to three April homicides, including the stabbing of a woman that occurred less than one year after she was charged in relation to the death of her two-month-old son.

Ladonia Boggs was killed during the early hours of April 27. Officers found the 39-year-old victim in an apartment on the 1500 block of Benning Road, NE, suffering from a stab wound. She was pronounced dead at the scene. That same day, 44-year-old Charles Jones was arrested and charged with second-degree murder while armed. Detectives believe the homicide was domestic in nature.

Prior to her death, Boggs was charged with tampering with physical evidence after her child, two-month-old Kyon Jones, went missing.

On May 7, 2021, officers responded to the same apartment where she’d later be found dead to conduct a welfare check. Boggs did not make representations as to her child’s whereabouts and the Metropolitan Police Department’s homicide branch took investigative responsibility for the case.

According to court documents, Boggs allegedly told detectives that she woke up to find her stomach on top of the baby, who was no longer breathing, and threw him into a dumpster outside their home.

Boggs was charged on May 15, 2021. A DC Superior Court judge allowed her to be released awaiting trial. Prosecutors have dismissed the case in response to her death. 

Police also arrested a suspect in reference to the fatal shooting of 41-year-old Douglas Jerome Johnson on April 6.

Officers responded to the 4800 block of North Capitol Street, NE, that morning and found Johnson suffering from gunshot wounds. D’Andre Brewer, 25, was apprehended by responding officers and charged with first-degree murder while armed.

On May 10, a 16-year-old male suspect was arrested in reference to the fatal shooting of 15-year-old Malachi Jackson on April 11 on the 3000 block of 13th Street, NW. Jackson was the youngest homicide victim in April.

The average age of April’s homicide victim’s was approximately 33 years old. The oldest victim, 62-year-old Gregory Burton, was shot to death on April 15 on the 1500 block of Good Hope Road, SE. As of April 11, no arrest has been made in reference to his death.