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By
D.C. Witness Staff
- August 23, 2019
Daily Stories
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An arrest has been made in a homicide that occurred on the Frederick Douglass Bridge Aug. 22. The suspect was identified as a homeless man.
Lance Ammons, 42, was charged with second-degree murder while armed for allegedly stabbing 62 year-old Robert Bolich earlier the same day.
According to the court documents, Ammons told detectives he heard the devil’s voice urging him to stab the bridge inspector. Ammons told police that he tried to ignore the voice. However, he repeatedly stabbed Bolich four times.
Bolich, a resident of Alexandria, Va., worked for HNTB Corp, an infrastructure design firm, as a senior environmental specialist and project manager. He was working on a major renovation of the bridge that carries South Capitol Street across the Potomac when Ammons approached him with a knife, The Washington Post reported.
Bolich tried running away after being stabbed, but collapsed a short distance away. When police arrived, Bolich was unconscious but still breathing.
According to police reports, Bolich was rushed to George Washington University Hospital. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner stated that the decedent suffered from four stab wounds, including two to the left chest, which struck the lung and heart, one in the left thigh and one to the right upper leg.
When police officers arrived at the crime scene, Ammons was across the bridge watching the nearby bikers try to save Bolich’s life. Ammons told police he regained control of his thoughts after the stabbing, according to police reports.
Evidence recovered from the scene includes a vest with blood stains, a notebook with blood stains and a bloody sketch book. Blood was located on a red Milwaukee Fastback knife with a silver blade which was located on the concrete barrier at the foot of the bridge closest to the street, according to police reports.
One witness, who was approximately 300 yards away from the crime, described the defendant as a black male with a bright blue shirt. The witness said the man was beating someone on the bridge, according to police reports. The witness could not see a weapon.
Another witness administered CPR until medics were on the scene. The witness identified the man across the bridge as the defendant. The witness said the defendant hit the victim in a stabbing manner. However, the witness did not see the defendant with a knife or book bag.
According to police reports, Ammons told police that after graduating high school, he completed one year of college and was briefly enrolled in the Army before moving to the District of Columbia. Ammons told police that he lives in a forest near the bridge and that he came to D.C. to prepare for the end of the world.
Ammons received a 90-day suspended sentence in 2007 for assaulting a police officer, according to NBC Washington.
NBC Washington also reported that, in 2011, Ammons was accused of assaulting a police officer and threatening bodily harm, but the charges were dismissed.
Court documents show that Ammons was arrested by U.S. Park Police in 2016 for “threatening to kidnap or cause bodily harm” to someone in front of the Organization of American States Building. There is no information available whether he was prosecuted for this crime or not.
Ammons is being held without bail until his next court hearing on Sept. 4.