A man from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, was found guilty Friday of murdering two young men in Northwest D.C. in July 2021, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Jalen Browne, 22, walked around the 100 block of Q Street NW in disguise, laying in wait to shoot at six young men in the parking lot of an apartment building on July 25, 2021, according to the Justice Department.
The attorney’s office said that shortly after 3:38 p.m., Browne fired 12 shots in succession at the six men, using a backpack to catch his shell casings. He narrowly missed three of his targets but Browne shot 22-year-old Jovan Hill, 19-year-old Tariq Riley and one other man in the back.
Police said Hill and Riley were found by first responders and transported to nearby hospitals, but both succumbed to their injuries despite life-saving efforts.
D.C. detectives suspected that Browne targeted and killed Hill and Riley, both of Northwest D.C., because he was robbed two months before the shooting near the same apartment parking lot that Hill, Riley and the other young men were sitting in, according to court documents.
Browne was identified by his silver Infiniti during the court hearing, the attorney’s office said during the court hearing.
The car was seen in footage of the suspect fleeing the scene of the shooting, as well as footage of Browne pulling into his gated residential community in Maryland after the shooting, according to detectives. It was also reported during a 911 call in May 2021 that a man in a silver Infiniti was being robbed at gunpoint by an apartment building at the 100 block of Q Street.
Browne was found guilty of two counts of first-degree premeditated murder while armed, four counts of assault with intent to kill while armed and six counts of possession of a firearm while committing a crime of violence, according to the Justice Department.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Oct.13.
