On the night of Thursday, March 17, 2022, police responded to a reported shooting in the 4100 block of South Capitol Terrace SW in southeast Washington, D.C. Officers found 20-year-old Jacky Brooks of Hyattsville, Maryland, inside a car with gunshot wounds. DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services personnel found no signs consistent with life and Brooks was pronounced dead at the scene; his body was taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

The Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide Branch opened an immediate investigation and appealed to the public for information, offering a reward of up to $25,000 for tips that could lead to an arrest and conviction. Detectives continued working the case for months, and on September 20, 2022, they arrested 19-year-old River Barfield and charged him with second-degree murder while armed in connection with Brooks’s death.

Anyone with information about Jacky Brooks, his movements that evening, or the incident is asked to come forward.