On what was meant to be a routine afternoon, 24-year-old Tyejuan Harkum was shot and killed on Wednesday, December 6, 2023, in the 2600 block of Naylor Road SE. First responders found him with a gunshot wound and he died after being taken to a hospital. He had been planning to get a haircut and to secure a money order to help his mother with rent.

Investigators say Harkum was followed from a barbershop to a Roaming Rooster restaurant by three people in a green Kia Soul; after he left the restaurant, a passenger from that vehicle shot him. Police arrested 26-year-old Robert Straughter of Southeast, D.C., charging him with second-degree murder while armed. Prosecutors presented video showing Straughter and two others at the barbershop and alleged they waited to attack Harkum.

Straughter later pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to eight years. Harkum’s family remembered him as a loving father to his young daughter. If anyone has information about the people who followed Harkum that afternoon, contact the investigators handling the case.