Jawaid Bhutto, a 64-year-old Pakistani philosopher and intellectual, was killed on March 1, 2019, in Southeast Washington, D.C. Police responded around 11 a.m. to the 2600 block of Wade Road and found Bhutto with gunshot wounds. He was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries and pronounced dead. Accounts say he was returning home—either walking from a nearby convenience store or unloading groceries in his condominium parking lot—when he was ambushed.

The man charged in Bhutto’s killing was his downstairs neighbor, with whom Bhutto had complained to the landlord about rowdy behavior and persistent marijuana smoke. According to police, the attacker waited for Bhutto, fired once and missed, then pistol-whipped and kicked him before firing the fatal shot. Officers arrested 45-year-old Hilman Jordan on his balcony overlooking the scene and charged him with first-degree murder while armed.

Jordan had a 1998 killing of a relative for which he was found not guilty by reason of insanity, was diagnosed with schizophrenia and paranoia, and had been committed to St. Elizabeths Hospital. He was conditionally released in 2015 under monitoring that reportedly failed; after Bhutto’s death Jordan tested positive for PCP. His defense sought an insanity plea while prosecutors argued he was criminally responsible; in early 2023 a judge found Jordan competent to stand trial. Does anyone have additional information about Bhutto’s life in the neighborhood or the conditions that preceded the confrontation?