Case Acquitted: Victim’s Father Testifies in Murder Trial About Finding His Dead Son

By Rebecca Connor [former] - August 11, 2023
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

Green was acquitted of murder on Aug. 24, 2023.

On August 11, the father of 2020 homicide victim Bryan Tate Jr. testified about the moment he found his son’s body. 

Tamika Green, 37, allegedly shot and killed 37-year-old Tate, her significant other at the time, on February 20, 2020 on the 1600 block of 18th Street, SE. She is charged with second-degree murder, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, and carrying a pistol without a license.

Prosecutors called Tate’s father to testify about when he had learned Tate had been shot, up until Tate was found dead in his apartment. 

According to Tate’s father, he originally learned of the shooting from Tate’s cousin, and attempted to locate his son by calling a local hospital and seeing if emergency services had transported him to a medical facility. When he couldn’t locate Tate, his father drove to Tate’s apartment where a neighbor let them into the building. 

Upon arriving, Tate’s father found the front door locked, then forced open the back door and entered the apartment, where he discovered Tate’s body.

Tate’s father told the court how difficult it was, saying that he “was stuck between being a police officer and a father.”

Prosecutors then called another of Tate’s family members as a witness, who testified about how Green relayed the incident to the family. 

The witness testified that she had previously known Green, and that on the day of the incident first received an Instagram Direct Message (DM) from Green at 8:30 am. 

However, the message did not indicate that anything was amiss, and Green did not relay to the witness that Tate had been shot until around three hours later through another Instagram DM. 

According to the witness, she then called Green, who indicated that the shooting had occurred as a result of a home invasion where she had accidentally left the door open. 

Green then told the witness that she had heard two men enter, and two-or-three shots rang out before attempting to hide her young nephew, who was at the apartment, in the closet to protect him from the alleged intruders. Green told the witness that she then went downstairs, where Tate was up and talking after being shot, and they agreed she would drive him to a hospital. 

According to the witness, Green said that Tate then allegedly collapsed to the ground, and Green grabbed her nephew and left the residence, calling 911 before going some distance from the apartment to leave her nephew with another individual.

Green then allegedly returned to the apartment without actually entering the building, and told the witness that she did not go inside as she saw no police cars or ambulances and assumed that Tate had already been taken to a hospital. 

After this call with Green, the witness then drove to Tate’s apartment, and called in a wellness check to the police department upon arriving. It was after this that Tate’s father arrived and Tate’s body was discovered. 

A Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) detective was then called by the prosecution, who had been among the first law enforcement officials to arrive on the scene. 

Prosecutors played body camera footage taken from a camera affixed to the MPD detective, who, in the video, felt for Tate’s pulse before clearing the scene and remarking that Tate’s body was “cold to the touch.” 

Trial is set to resume before DC Superior Court Judge Marisa Demeo on August 14.