Theresa Hungerford- sad relics

From DC Police reports: On July 19, 2010, at approximately 11:50 pm, Fifth District units were alerted by a subject who advised them that a woman had been assaulted in 1600 block of E Street NE, Washington DC. Officers responded to the location and found Theresa Hungerford, 45, of the 1600 block of E Street NE, inside or nearby, suffering from apparent stab wounds. DC EMS personnel responded, and determined that Ms. Hungerford was dead.
Friday, July 23, 2010, at approximately 10:45 am, members of the Homicide Branch arrested Nathaniel Phillips, 36, from Northeast DC, for the stabbing of Theresa Hungerford and charged him with Murder II while Armed.

I found this police crime tape in the alley behind the street- one section of which appears to have been tied into a bow.

I observed the broken toy gun at this site.

Mozart Place NW - Sean Robinson

Update: A larger full shrine was created for the life of Sean Robinson.



From DC Police reports: On Wednesday, August 11, 2010, at approximately 9:17 pm, units from the Third District were dispatched to the 2500 block of Mozart Place NW, Washington DC, for the report of a shooting.
Upon their arrival, they located the victim suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. DC EMS responded and transported the victim to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The decedent is identified as Sean Robinson, 19, of the 1600 block of Euclid Street, NW.
On Friday, August 13, 2010, at 7:45 pm., members of the Third District arrested and charged Robert Givens,17, of Northwest, Washington, DC, as an adult, pursuant to a DC Superior Court arrest warrant charging him with First Degree Murder while Armed.

According to press and blog reports, this may have been a gang-related killing. A hail of bullets were fired during the shooting incident in this Adams-Morgan neighborhood.

RIP- tags for Mario Ernesto Galo

From PG County police sources:
The Prince George’s County Police Department’s Homicide Unit is investigating the fatal shooting of two men that occurred on Riggs Road in Langley Park, Maryland.
On June 13, 2010, at approximately 7:10 pm, patrol officers responded to the 7900 block of Riggs Road for a report of a shooting. Upon arrival, patrol officers found Early Martinez, 25, of the 6800 block of Riggs Road in Langley Park and Mario Ernesto Galo, 21, of the 6200 block of 64th Avenue in Riverdale, suffering from gunshot wounds to their bodies. Homicide detectives are working to identify the suspect(s) and to establish a motive.

This graffiti shrine was at the very back of a seemingly quiet and well-kept modest garden apartment complex.

Police crime tape to an unkown female murder victim

From DC police:
On Monday, July 19, 2010, at approximately 7:31 am, officers from the Fourth District responded to the 300 block of Farragut Street, NW, Washington DC for the report of an unconscious person. Upon their arrival, they located an unconscious and unresponsive female, the victim of an apparent homicide.
The decedent was transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner where she was pronounced dead. The identity of the decedent is unknown at this time.

The murder site was in an alley behind the street.

"Crime" is right.

If there is a heaven, may you be blessed with more respect and care than you got in your life on Earth.

In memory of Jericka Chambers

From the Washington Post:
Jericka Chambers, 16, of the 6600 block of West Forest Road in Landover was shot in the head in Greenbelt and died of her injury June 2, Greenbelt. Maryland police said.
Chambers was shot once in the head at around 7:45 pm May 31, 2010 in the 5900 block of Cherrywood Lane, according to Officer Kelly Lawson of the Greenbelt Police Department.
Lawson said June 2 that Chambers was pronounced dead at Prince George's Hospital Center in Cheverly at around 2:20 p.m.
City police arrested Rydell Lee Estep and Darnell Lee Estep, both 20 and of the 9100 block of Springhill Lane in Greenbelt, on June 25 and charged them with first- and second-degree murder, Lawson said.

This small remnant was all that I could find of a memorial.

A prayer for you and your family. Peace.

Shrine in honor of Joshua Hopkins

From DC Police reports:
On Saturday, July 3, 2010, at approximately 12:10 AM, officers from the Sixth District were dispatched to the 6100 block of Banks Place, NE, Washington DC, for the report of a shooting. Upon arrival, they located the victim lying on the ground suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. The victim, Joshua Hopkins, 19, was transported to an area hospital, where succumbed to his injuries on Sunday, July 4, 2010, at approximately 1:16 am.
On Friday, July 9, 2010, at 6:00 pm, members of the Homicide Branch and the Capitol Area Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested Antoine Sadique Taylor, 29, of Fort Washington, Maryland, in the 4600 block of Minnesota Avenue, NE, pursuant to a DC Superior Court arrest warrant charging him with First Degree Murder while Armed.

Excepted from NBC-TV News:

A vigil was held Tuesday night at the spot where he was killed in memory of Joshua Hopkins, who friends say was a role model to the community.

The shooting happened at the Watkins Branch Recreation Center in northeast Washington. Hopkins, who was home on summer break from Fairmont State University, was playing basketball with some friends at the park.

Circumstances around the shooting are not fully clear, but friends and family say that Hopkins liked to joke around and that he may have said something that offended the suspect.

“He was doing very well in school, had overcome a lot of challenges to graduate from high school, enroll in college, intern on Capitol Hill,” Hopkins’ cousin, Lester Davis. “This was a young man who was an example to other young men and women in his neighborhood.”

Hopkins had interned with Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.), who called his death a "horrible tragedy, senseless as such violence will always be."

“Over the course of my time in Congress numerous interns have served admirably in my office, but none has stood out quite like Joshua Hopkins," Fattah said in a statement. "Josh was a responsible and eager young man always willing to assist the staff wherever and whenever possible. He was studious, purposeful and determined to do the hard work necessary to succeed in life. Josh was well on his way to fulfilling his dream of a college education. Unfortunately, his life was cut short much too soon by the violence that robs so many young people of their full potential."

Hopkins had overcome a lot. His mother was murdered when he was 5 months old. His mother’s sister raised him. But he thrived and was well respected. Memorials quickly sprung up at the park.
“The individual that did this, they didn’t just take a nameless, faceless individual,” Davis said. “They took someone from his family, from the community.”

And at the same time, there are still many unanswered questions.

“Why? Just for talking? You can’t even stand there and kid with people anymore?” said Artelious Hopkins, the woman who raised Joshua. “Where’s this society going? What are we accomplishing? Nothing. We’re not accomplishing one thing by killing each other.”

"Good Pictures" of Cornell Yates' memorial - to Dream.

On Friday, June 18, 2010, at approximately 10:20 PM, officers of the Metropolitan Police Department’s Seventh District were dispatched to the 800 block of Yuma Street SE, Washington DC, to investigate the report of a shooting. Officers found three people suffering from gunshot wounds. DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services personnel transported the victims to area hospitals.
Subsequently, one of the shooting victims, Cornell K. Yates, 36, of Clinton, Maryland, succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead. The other two victims’ wounds are not life threatening and their identities are not being released because they are witnesses.

I have photographed several shrines with a few block radius of this site, in the Condon Terrace neighborhood of Southeast DC. It can be a tough place to live; tougher place to die.

Two passersby told me "take good pictures man, good pictures. He was a good dude."

Dream.

Shrine to an unknown young woman - 3000 block 11th Street NW

I was searching for a possible shrine to a murder victim, Jonathan Sanchez Estep, which occurred recently in this block. A friend of the deceased who was passing by, also saw this small shrine, but the bear and photo on a bus stop pole, were clearly not for Mr. Estep.

On-line searches gave me no more information about whom this small tender shrine honors.

I found the nearby graffiti tag haunting, troubling, and a mystery.

The friend, Antoine, told me "I hope someday you won't be reading about me this way."
The fact that a bright young African-American man has to have this possibility in his consciousness speaks volumes- and should prod us all to do our part to increase peace.

From DC Police reports:
On Saturday, July 10, 2010, at approximately 8:31 PM, police officers were dispatched to 11th Street and Columbia Road, Washington DC, for the report of a shooting. They located the victim in the 3000 block of 11th Street, NW, suffering from gunshot wounds. Jonathan Sanchez Estep, 24, of Northeast DC, later succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at an area hospital.
A second victim was also shot during the incident. He was transported to an area hospital and released.

To all, and this unknown young woman, and your families - peace and strength to you and yours.

John Hamer Pernell- marked location

from DC Police reports:
On Saturday, July 3, 2010 at approximately 4:20 PM, units from the Sixth District responded to the 3000 block of Nelson Place SE, Washington, DC, to investigate the report of a shooting. Upon arriving on the scene officers found the victim suffering from gunshot wounds. The victim, John Hamer Pernell, 66, was transported to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.

I found nothing else at the site besides police crime scene tape marking the tragedy of his last moments.