On Thursday, November 23, 2017, shortly after 7 p.m., 43-year-old Joseph Phill Smith was fatally shot in the parking lot of an apartment complex in the 2400 block of Elvans Road SE in Southeast Washington, at the Forest Ridge and the Vistas apartments between the Barry Farm and Fort Stanton neighborhoods. Police found Smith with multiple gunshot wounds and he was pronounced dead at the scene. Another man suffered non-life-threatening gunshot injuries; bullets also struck two vehicles and an apartment.

D.C. Police opened a homicide investigation and said they were searching for a suspect and trying to determine a motive, but no arrests or named suspects have been announced. The circumstances that led to the shooting and who fired the shots remain unresolved.

If anyone witnessed the shooting or has information about what happened that evening, please come forward to assist the investigation.