A D.C. man has been charged with first-degree murder for killing a young woman on Tuesday night.
It was announced Thursday that Hakeem Jones, 28, will be held without bond in D.C. jail after being charged in the shooting death of 25-year-old Jamillah Gales.
Originally, police had charged him with second-degree murder.
In court, prosecutors said video from a nearby residence in the 600 block of Kenyon Street Northwest was used to help arrest Jones. According to prosecutors, it appears Jones and Gales were arguing before the shooting.
Gales, the toddler’s mother, dropped her son off with another person at an apartment on Kenyon Street NW about an hour before she was killed.
According to court records, video shows the “suspect take a shooting stance with his arms outstretched in the direction of the decedent, pointing what appears to be a firearm with a flashlight attached.”
Police said Gales was shot twice, once in the left upper back and once in the left lower back.
Jones’ attorney in court, however, said the video doesn’t establish the person seen in the footage as Jones. Prosecutors said it’s a match by height and weight.
According to court records, police said they later found a duffel bag and a black hoodie consistent with those worn by the shooter in the apartment where Jones was arrested.
The man watching Gales’ son notified police the child was there after hearing on the news that an Amber Alert had been issued. Jones is not the 2-year-old’s father.
Jones, who has two prior gun related convictions, is on parole for one of them and was just released from jail March 6.
He’ll be back in court May 6.
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