Taiyania Thompson was 16 when she was found unresponsive inside a Northeast Washington, D.C., apartment on Mount Olivet Road on January 25, 2018. She had suffered a gunshot wound to the head, was taken to a hospital in very serious condition, and died there on January 28, 2018. Her father had also been shot and killed in the District when he was 17; Taiyania had been an infant at that time.

Police quickly focused on an 18-year-old boyfriend, Dekale Bowman of Northeast D.C., who was arrested on January 29 and charged with second-degree murder. Police said the shooting may have followed a domestic dispute; court documents record Bowman’s later claim that the gun discharged accidentally while he was playing with it, and that he fled without calling for help. Bowman was mistakenly released from custody four days after his arrest during a transfer for an unrelated misdemeanor before being re-arrested. In October 2018 he pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and to additional charges arising after Thompson’s death, and a D.C. Superior Court judge later sentenced him to nearly 10 years in prison. The judge cited a lack of remorse, noting Bowman’s conduct after the shooting and while in custody. Thompson’s mother told the court about the daughter she lost, including their tradition of cooking for the homeless.

Did anyone in the Northeast D.C. neighborhood know Taiyania or have information about what happened that night?