A suspect in two homicides at two gas stations a year apart faced two murder charges when he went before a D.C. Superior Court magistrate judge Monday, but one of those counts was dismissed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
D.C. police arrested and charged 24-year-old Javon Duckwilder with killing a man at a gas station Saturday night in the 2800 block of Alabama Avenue SE.
Accordint to court documents, Duckwilder was recorded by a surveillance camera getting into a dispute with 23-year-old Juwan Smith. Duckwilder is seen pulling out a gun and firing at Smith, the documents say. Investigators can see in the same video a muzzle flash coming from Smith.
Police say they found a 9mm shell casing where smith collapsed but did not find a gun. A number of people surrounded Smith after he was shot, but there is no clear video showing someone removing a pistol, police say.
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After police arrested Duckwilder a few blocks from the gas station, they questioned him and also charged him with the October 2020 murder of Alexander Nwogu at a gas station on Connecticut Avenue and Fessenden Street in Northwest.
Nwogo was a recent graduate of Virginia Tech and was about to start a new job at Ernst & Young.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office dropped that murder charge Monday and says that investigation is ongoing.
