WASHINGTON — A Northeast D.C. man charged with killing a teenage girl who is now facing charges for using the same gun in two other killings.
James Mayfield, 18, is responsible for a rash of violence, including three armed robberies which eventually led to his arrest, D.C.’s police chief said.
Jamahri Sydnor, 17, a recent Woodrow Wilson High School graduate, would have headed to college just days after she was hit by a stray bullet and killed on Aug. 10.
While investigators knew Mayfield took part in the retaliatory gang shooting in Sydnor’s Northeast neighborhood, and issued a warrant for his arrest, they couldn’t find him for months.
“It is my understanding that Mr. Mayfield has changed his appearance somewhat from the photos we released,” Police Chief Peter Newsham said at a Thursday news conference.
Witnesses told police Mayfield cut off his dreadlocks and did not resemble the photo investigators released following Sydnor’s killing, court documents said. A witness also told police that when asked about the girl’s death, Mayfield responded, “She got in the way,” according to court documents.
He eluded police for four months, until the day after Christmas, when, police said, Mayfield went on a crime spree. In a matter of hours, officers responded to a deadly shooting on Douglas Street Northeast, and to another five blocks away on Bryant Street Northeast.
Shooting at 0250 hrs in the 1800 block of Bryant Street, NE. Lookout for B/M wearing a black hat and all black clothing.
— DC Police Department (@DCPoliceDept) December 27, 2017
Newsham could not provide a motive for the killings, but identified the victims as Jermaine Bowens, 38, and Elijah Henry, 21.
Officers responded to 22nd Street Northeast after 5 p.m. on Tuesday to find Bowens lying in the intersection with Douglas Street, screaming for help and suffering from gunshot wounds to his abdomen and leg, court documents said. At the hospital, Bowens described how the man who shot him was unprovoked and rode off on a bicycle. Bowens later died at the hospital.
Just before 3 a.m. the next morning, residents of a home on Bryant Street Northeast called the police to report that a man had been shot inside their home. Officers found Elijah Henry dead on his living room floor, court documents said.
Witnesses told police Henry and Mayfield began arguing over a jacket and $200 Mayfield felt he lost in the house that night, the documents said. The witnesses told officers Mayfield told Henry “You don’t want me to do this,” before shooting him, the documents said. Officers said they found multiple bullets lodged into the door frame, drywall and elsewhere around the house.
At 10 a.m. the following morning, Wednesday, officers responded to a reported armed robbery on Berry Street Northeast and later spotted Mayfield while canvassing the area based on the victim’s description, said Dustin Sternbeck with the D.C. police.
When arresting Mayfield, officers found “court-related paperwork” with Elijah Henry’s name on them, the documents said. Officers also found an unloaded, black, semi-automatic .40 caliber handgun, they said. Mayfield told officers during questioning he had ingested PCP and had Xanax and Valium on him, the documents said.
The Department of Forensic Services was able to match the bullet casings at the murder scenes where Henry and Bowens were shot to Mayfield’s gun. The gun is also a ballistic match to .40-caliber cartridge casings found at the scene of Sydnor’s killing, the documents said.
Mayfield is now charged with three counts of first-degree murder, three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of attempting to commit a robbery while armed.
Mayfield is the third and final person to be charged in Sydnor’s death. Her mother was a D.C. police sergeant; solving the crime was personal for her colleagues.
“When a case touches you like Jamahri’s case, it really kind of re-emphasizes our role as police officers in closing cases. We always say it brings some closure to the families, but we have three families who had to spend this holiday season without their loved ones,” Newsham said.
