Washington, D.C. residents Tyiion Freeman and Koran Jackson have received lengthy prison sentences for a series of shootings that left 13-year-old Malachi Lukes dead. On July 10, a Superior Court jury found Freeman, 25, and Jackson, 24, guilty of first-degree murder while armed, among other charges related to recent violence in local communities.
Drawing on a violent chapter that unfolded between February and May 2020, Freeman was sentenced to 108 years, and Jackson was handed a 164-year sentence. The austere judgments, announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, follow a nine-day shooting spree culminating in the tragic incident on March 1, 2020. At the time, Lukes and his friends were simply on their way to play basketball in the Shaw neighborhood when the assailants attacked, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Per evidence presented during the trial, the shootings were related to longstanding rivalries among different D.C. neighborhoods. In addition to Lukes's murder, the spree attributed to Freeman, Jackson, and two other awaiting-trial defendants also resulted in assaults on ten other victims. Freeman and Jackson were tracked down in a stolen vehicle, and found by the authorities to have traveled to another neighborhood to fire on yet another victim, only moments after the attack on Lukes and his friends.
A third conspirator, Stephon Nelson, has been found guilty of supplying the illegal firearms used in these crimes and is awaiting sentencing later this month on September 19. In a concerted effort, agencies including the FBI, ATF, and MPD worked closely to investigate and bring to justice those responsible for the violence that marred Washington, D.C.'s streets, as detailed in the commendations by U.S. Attorney Graves and Chief Smith. The prosecution team led by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michelle Jackson, Tamara Rubb, and Nebiyu Feleke, was supported by a range of criminal justice and forensic professionals, as per the U.S. Attorney's Office.
