Witnesses close to the victim relived a fatal shooting that occurred hours after a Fourth of July celebration in a trial before DC Superior Court Judge Jason Park on Sept. 16.
Alphonso Oliver, 35, is charged with second-degree murder, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, unlawful possession of a firearm with a prior conviction, and carrying a pistol without a license outside a home or business. These charges stem from his alleged involvement in the fatal shooting of Levoire Simmons, 16, that occurred July 5, 2022 on the 700 block of Kenilworth Terrace, NE.
In emotional testimony, Simmons’ mother recalled the final moments she spent with her son during which she and her family went to a field near the 800 block of Kenilworth Terrace, NE, to celebrate the Fourth of July. She went home around 10:30 p.m. while Simmons and his friends remained behind.
Simmons’ mother said she checked her son’s Instagram account and saw a video of him in a car holding a firearm. Feeling “livid,” the mother testified, she texted Simmons regarding the post but never received a response. The next call she received was her daughter screaming that Simmons had been shot.
Simmons’ sister, who was also present at the shooting, detailed the confusing moments before the killing. She described an evening disrupted by a man spooked by gunshots fired into the air by Simmons and another person present.
The sister claimed that the man was behaving erratically at first, but she thought nothing of it until he returned. According to the sister, Oliver, whom she identified as the shooter in court, crossed the road to reach their group, palms up in a motion of surrender, and got into a tussle immediately with Simmons. Shortly after, a gun was drawn and the suspect fled after firing it, according to Simmons’ sister.
“I just watched my brother die. I was losing it,” said the witness when she spoke about her interactions with the detective later, where she gave a description of the man who had shot Simmons and the events of the evening. Like her mother, she also described herself as “livid” in those moments.
The victim’s girlfriend also described the tussle, which she believed was over a gun. According to the girlfriend, the fight lasted less than thirty seconds before Simmons was shot. She also testified she believed the first interaction with Oliver that night was insignificant, only thinking that something bad would happen when he approached Simmons. The girlfriend identified Oliver as the shooter in court.
Both witnesses were certain that no one had ever threatened the shooter, either verbally or by pointing a gun at him. They also thought that Simmons did not have a gun on him at the time the tussle began, which the defense questioned multiple times.
A Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer who was dispatched to the scene found Simmons bleeding, unconscious, and not breathing. The officer claimed that he did not see a firearm in Simmons’ possession.
A crime scene analyst with the Department of Forensic Sciences (DFS) also testified on the physical evidence he gathered from the scene. According to the witness, he recovered bullet casings and a baseball cap from where the shooting occurred.
Parties are slated to reconvene Sept. 17.
