On a Saturday afternoon in April 2021, 37-year-old Julius Hayes was shot and killed in Northeast Washington, D.C. Officers responding to the 300 block of 18th Street Northeast found Hayes suffering from multiple gunshot wounds around 3:58 p.m.; he was taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead.

Investigators say the incident followed an argument in which Hayes tried to walk away and was pursued. Prosecutors alleged the motive involved rumors Hayes had allegedly spread about another man’s sexual relationships, and that the suspect drove to Hayes’s neighborhood, confronted him, and shot him multiple times in the street. Audio from nearby home security captured Hayes screaming as he was shot five times before the assailant fled.

If anyone who lived near 18th Street Northeast that afternoon or who has information about what led up to the shooting can help, please come forward.