WASHINGTON — Three Dec. 28 murders in D.C. and Prince George’s County, Maryland, are believed to be connected, with the connection being a credit card scam they were involved in, police said in court documents.
One man, 23-year-old Ashton Briscoe of Northeast, faces a charge of first-degree murder while armed in the murder of Kerrice Lewis, 23, of Hyattsville, Maryland.
Lewis’ body was found in the trunk of a burning car in a Southeast alley to the rear of Adrian Street. Court documents filed in Superior Court in D.C. say she had been shot 15 times before she was burned.
The credit card scam is believed to be what led to her death; however, the documents do not elaborate on the type of scam allegedly being run.
Police said in the affidavit to arrest Briscoe that they had been told “Dennis (Travon) Whitaker and Ms. Lewis were beefing, because Dennis Whitaker believed Ms. Lewis had set him up and got him shot at.”
In the 10-page affidavit, police outlined the links connecting Briscoe, Whitaker and Malique Lewis, 20, with Kerrice Lewis, whose body was found at 7:21 p.m. Dec. 28, and the bodies of her two friends, Ronzay Green, 23, and Armani Coles, 27.
Police found Green, who had been shot, at 11:20 a.m. Dec. 28 on the parking lot of a 7-Eleven in Northeast.
Coles was fatally shot and pushed out of a car in Capitol Heights, Maryland, around 6:20 p.m. Dec. 28, according to police.
Police arrested Whitaker in Green’s murder.
Authorities said Briscoe and Malique Lewis collaborated with a third unidentified person to kill Kerrice Lewis.
Police used cellphone records to connect Briscoe and Malique Lewis the night of Kerrice Lewis’ murder. A police-worn camera connected Briscoe to the scene of Green’s murder.
Ballistics results showed that the .45-caliber handgun that was used in the deaths of Lewis and Coles also had been involved in two shootings last year and in three shootings in 2016.
Police arrested Malique Lewis, of Southeast, in the murder of Coles.
