According to authorities, Jason Lewis, the man accused of shooting 13-year-old Karon Blake outside his Washington, D.C., home earlier this month, has been charged with second-degree murder while armed. Blake was shot and murdered during an alleged encounter with Lewis, who claimed to have seen Blake “tampering with” cars soon before 4 a.m. on Jan. 7.
Blake’s last words, according to cops, were “I’m a kid, I’m a kid,” and “Please don’t, I’m sorry.” During a court hearing Tuesday afternoon, Lewis, 41, pled not guilty to the charge. He will be held until his next court appearance on February 13.
Blake’s family had been seeking criminal charges in the case. On December 19, 2022, a Metropolitan Police Department cruiser patrols a neighborhood in Washington, D.C. Lewis’s initial responses to law enforcement, according to D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee, left out important details.
Lewis originally told police that he went outside his house and fired a gun at a parked, stolen vehicle. Following that shooting, Blake and an unnamed individual went toward Lewis, who was standing outside his door on his property, according to Contee, and Blake was shot.
Contee, though, told reporters Tuesday that it looked like Blake was attempting to go back to the car, and the other men with Blake then attempted to drive away before collapsing. “The most serious complaint is that the first shot was fired, and the individual sitting in the vehicle was not an immediate threat to the person who fired the shot. So that creates questions, doesn’t it? “asked the chief.
Prosecutors claimed in court Tuesday that Lewis fired at the two men with Blake before they returned to the stolen vehicle, which was not on Lewis’ property, nearly injuring one of them. Blake was fatally struck moments later.
The individuals with Blake, who were also believed to be minors, were seen breaking into cars in a video recovered by authorities. It is now up to the United States Attorney’s Office to decide what evidence will be made public.
“It appears that the young men who got out of the vehicle had flashlights and were peeping into cars” on the block where Lewis resides, according to Contee. Flowers are tied to a pole as a tribute to Karon Blake, 13, on the corner of Quincy Street NE and Michigan Avenue NE in Washington’s Brookland neighborhood on January 10, 2023.
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“Karon, we shall love and miss you dearly,” the note says. Flowers are tied to a pole as a tribute to Karon Blake, 13, on the corner of Quincy Street NE and Michigan Avenue NE in Washington’s Brookland neighborhood on January 10, 2023.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Lewis allegedly told police that prior to the shooting, he heard noises while lying in bed and walked downstairs because he didn’t know whether someone was attempting to enter his home.
According to the affidavit, he informed police he fired twice, but investigators collected three casings from the scene. According to the complaint, a witness watched Lewis perform CPR on Blake, who was subsequently pronounced dead at a local children’s hospital.
In the days following the shooting, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser stated that Lewis worked for the D.C. government, but did not indicate which agency. Bowser stated that, despite being mayor since 2015, she had never met the man.
He was a long-term government employee, according to her. She stated during her statements that the body-worn camera footage from the police officer’s response would not be disclosed while the investigation is ongoing.
“It’s a terrible scenario,” Bowser declared on January 11. “And we had a 13-year-old who died, and we don’t have all the details, and the folks in charge of gathering the facts [and] making charging choices are working as quickly as they can.
So we’re in a really uncomfortable place, but it’s also a necessary one to come to just decisions.” Seven officers implicated in Tyre Nichols’ death have been dismissed from duty, and three Memphis Fire Department members have been fired.
Blake’s grandfather, Sean Long, told ABC News on January 13 that the gunman should have phoned authorities instead of attempting to take the law into his own hands. “Everyone sneaks out the door. Everyone should go outside. Everyone makes mistakes “Long said.
“But that doesn’t mean you’re going to be killed. They don’t mean that someone is going to pull a gun on you. That does not imply that if you touch a car, someone would look out their window and shoot you.” According to the affidavit, the gun used in the incident was a black Smith and Wesson M&P.40 caliber semi-automatic pistol. According to police, Lewis’ firearm was registered.
If convicted, second-degree murder while armed with a pistol carries a required minimum term of ten years in addition to the penalty for second-degree murder. The police chief urged the people who were with Blake that night to come forward and share further information about the case.
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