Charles Booker was 29 when he was shot in the early minutes of Sunday, July 21, 2002, on the 4300 block of Varnum Place NE in Washington, D.C. A little after 12:10 a.m. gunfire broke the block’s quiet; Booker was critically wounded and died later that day. Metropolitan Police Department Homicide detectives canvassed the neighborhood and issued a reward flier offering up to $25,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction, naming Detective K. Todd Williams as a contact.

Official cold-case listings and government postings repeat the same core facts and emphasize Booker’s age and race while noting the case remains unsolved. Some later retellings contain discrepancies about his age, exact location, and the date, but the police notices fix the shooting on Varnum Place at about 12:10 a.m. The investigation remains open with no public arrests or suspects announced. If anyone has information about that night, please come forward to help bring answers.