On August 7, 2021, 20-year-old Kendall Brown was shot and killed inside an apartment on Nelson Place SE in Washington, D.C. Brown and two companions had gone to the residence to retrieve belongings from a former roommate. A verbal argument developed; the roommate’s boyfriend, 22-year-old Amard Jefferson, produced a firearm and fired, striking Brown. Her friends fled, while Jefferson and the roommate locked the door and left via the back. Jefferson discarded a 9mm ghost gun in a drainpipe as he fled. Officers forced entry, found Brown with a gunshot wound and she was taken to a hospital where she died.

Authorities arrested Jefferson the next day and charged him with second-degree murder while armed. Investigators later reported that Jefferson, from jail, tried to persuade his girlfriend to take the blame through texts and calls.