The suspect in the District Heights killing of a postal worker and mother has been apprehended in North Carolina after an eight-month search.
Prince George’s County police announced Thursday the arrest of 23-year-old Raheem Hawkins-Boseman, just one day after officers walked business to business, taping flyers on windows in the Walker Mill Square Shopping Center and asking employees if they’ve seen him.
Hawkins-Boseman is accused of shooting and killing Jessica Somerville, 27, in a nearby parking lot in March and faces a first-degree murder charge, and other related charges.
Officers canvassed the Capitol Heights shopping center Wednesday because they said they had intelligence suggesting it’s an area Hawkins-Boseman has been to before. He was, however, taken into custody in North Carolina, confirming officers’ suspicions that he may have fled the area.
Just over a mile away from the shopping center, in District Heights, police said Hawkins-Boseman had shot and killed Somerville in a parking lot in the early hours of March 17.
Somerville and her friends had just gotten off work and were getting something to eat, Lt. Shane Goudreau said. They were inside a Subway restaurant — as was Hawkins-Boseman.
Hawkins-Boseman “accosted Jessica and her group of friends,” Goudreau said. Then, there was an interaction that prompted Somerville and her friends to leave.
They left and began walking toward their car, when Hawkins-Boseman “followed them outside, went to the car, and it ultimately resulted in 27-year-old Jessica Somerville being shot and killed,” Goudreau said.
The interaction, Goudreau said, “made him upset, and it drove him to do something that’s just unthinkable.”
Somerville, according to Goudreau, was a hardworking employee of the U.S. Postal Service, a mother of a young girl, and was beloved by her family. She hadn’t been in any type of trouble before.
While detectives had previously explored the area they canvassed Wednesday, Goudreau said police wanted to publicly share Hawkins-Boseman’s picture again, to let the community know they hadn’t given up their search — a search that finally paid off a day later.
Goudreau said anyone who helped Hawkins-Boseman evade law enforcement for this long will be prosecuted.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated following the arrest of Hawkins-Boseman.
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