WASHINGTON — Police are investigating three separate homicides that occurred in Washington, D.C. over the weekend. One suspect has been arrested in connection with one of the killings, while detectives continue to seek information in the other two cases.
In the first shooting, police said a 17-year-old, Jermaine Durbin of Northeast Washington, was shot and killed Friday at about 7:20 p.m. in the 600 block of Rhode Island Avenue NE. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said they were looking for a man who wore a ski mask and a black sweatshirt while being armed with a handgun in connection with this shooting.
A few hours later, police said officers responded shortly after 12:30 a.m. Saturday to the 1400 block of Clifton Street NW for reports of gunfire and found 26-year-old Jerome Myles, of Northwest Washington, suffering from gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to a police affidavit, investigators recovered multiple shell casings, reviewed surveillance footage showing two men firing an AR-15 rifle and a 9mm “Ghost” handgun at Mr. Myles. Both men fled the scene immediately after the shooting.
Police used surveillance video to track two suspects to a nearby apartment building on Euclid Street. Police set up a perimeter and observed the suspect coming and going from two different apartments while authorities sought an emergency search warrant.
Once the warrant was obtained, members of the Metropolitan Police Emergency Response Team executed a search warrant and discovered a man hiding in a pile of clothes. Detectives identified 35-year-old Antone Whitaker, of Northeast Washington, as one of the suspects. He was arrested on October 6 and charged with First-Degree Murder While Armed.
Police also discovered a rifle and a handgun in a trash can outside the apartment building where video showed the suspects jumping a fence. A search of the serial number of the rifle showed that it was reported stolen in 2016 in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The second suspect was not located.
The third homicide of the weekend took place in Northeast on Sunday, around 6:58 p.m. Police officers conducting a welfare check found 33-year-old Maurisha Singletary, of Northeast Washington, inside a residence in the 4000 block of Minnesota Avenue NE. She had been shot and was pronounced dead at the scene. No arrests have been announced and no lookout has been provided.
The three killings bring the District’s total to at least 111 homicides so far in 2025, compared with 139 at this point last year, according to police data.
These weekend killings highlight a tension in the Trump administration’s public safety messaging. Since August, Trump has publicly claimed the District is now “safe” and repeatedly asserted that crime in Washington has dramatically declined under his federal surge and crackdown policies.
However, analysts and crime data suggest the picture is more complicated. A recent Reuters analysis found that while some firearm offenses have declined, overall violent crime has shown only modest change despite the influx of federal agents and National Guard deployments.
