On the evening of October 6, 2021, a flag football game on an elementary school athletic field in Capitol Hill ended in a burst of deadly violence. Aaron Wiggins, a 26-year-old Black man from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, was an avid football player. That night, the scrimmage between two teams was filled with trash talk, particularly between Wiggins and members of the opposing team, some of whom were his former teammates.
The game continued until the field lights switched off around 9:45 p.m., at which point the teams agreed to play one final down. On that last play, Wiggins caught the winning touchdown. As players began gathering their belongings to leave the darkened field on the 400 block of 12th Street, Southeast, the verbal taunts grew more heated. Another player, Antonio Hawley, took a handgun from a teammate's bag, approached Wiggins, and fired 17 times.
First responders arrived to find Wiggins suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
He was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy later revealed he had been struck by 12 bullets, with wounds to his elbow, arms, hands, legs, hip, and chest. The sudden, brutal end to a recreational game sent shockwaves through the community.
Detectives with the Metropolitan Police Department pieced together evidence from surveillance footage and witness interviews. Their investigation led them to arrest Antonio Hawley Jr., who was 18 at the time of the shooting, on December 21, 2021. Hawley, of Southeast D.C., was charged with first-degree murder while armed, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, and carrying a pistol without a license.
In February, a jury found Hawley guilty on all three charges. Following the conviction, a judge sentenced Hawley, then 23, to 32 years in prison. His sentence, delivered in October, also includes five years of supervised release upon his completion of his prison term.
