Source: Office of United States Attorneys
WASHINGTON – Aaron Brown, 29, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today in Superior Court to 18 years in prison for assault with intent to kill (while armed) stemming from the killing of 13-year-old Malachi Lukes in March of 2020, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro, FBI Assistant Director in Charge Steven J. Jensen of the Washington Field Office, ATF Special Agent in Charge Anthony Spotswood of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Washington Field Division, and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
Brown also pleaded guilty to the assault with intent to kill charge on December 20, 2024, before Judge Rainey Brandt. Brown’s charge stemmed from his participation in a shooting after Lukes’s homicide. Previously, a jury found three of Brown’s co-defendants, Stephon Nelson, Tyiion Freeman and Koran Jackson—guilty of first-degree murder while armed, several counts of assault with intent to kill while armed, conspiracy to commit various firearms offenses and other firearms-related charges. Freeman received 108 years; Jackson was sentenced to 164 years in prison while Nelson received 108 ½ years of incarceration.
Between February 1, 2020, and May 31, 2020, the defendants, along with one other defendant (whose case was severed pre-trial and will be tried in August 2025), participated in a conspiracy to illegally possess, carry, and transfer firearms for the purpose of using those firearms in the commission of dangerous and violent crimes. Jackson, Freeman, Nelson along with Brown and the severed defendant, are members and associates of neighborhood crews. Between 2019-2020, the defendants’ neighborhood crews were feuding with other crews and the feud escalated when Tahlil Byrd, also known as Slatt Goon, was killed in September 2019.
On March 1, 2020, Brown along with his co-defendants (Jackson, Freeman and the severed co-defendant) participated in two shootings in two separate neighborhoods over the span of 10 minutes. At 2:08 p.m., the defendants, who were traveling in a stolen Kia Soul, followed 13-year-old Malachi Lukes, along with his three friends, into the Ninth Street area of the 600 block of S Street, N.W., where two defendants exited the Kia Soul and opened fire on them. Malachi Lukes was shot in the back as he fled. The bullet traveled through his heart and lung causing him to collapse to his death. Brown remained in the car while the shooting took place. The defendants then traveled to another neighborhood where members of the rival crew were known to gather and at 2:18 p.m., opened fire on individuals in that block. No injuries were reported in that shooting spree. Brown was one of the shooters.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Pirro, FBI Assistant Director in Charge Jensen, ATF Special Agent in Charge Spotswood and Chief Smith commended the work of those investigating the case from the MPD and ATF along with the Arlington County Police Department. They also thanked the Arlington County Sheriff Department; U.S. Marshals Service; U.S. Capitol Police; D.C. Department of Forensic Sciences; DOJ Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section; Montgomery County Police Department; D.C. Department of Corrections; and the Internal Revenue Service—Atlanta Branch.
They also commended the efforts of those who provided assistance with the case including Lead Paralegal Sharon Newman, Supervisory Paralegal Tasha Harris, Paralegals April Urbanowski and Alyssa Schroeder, former Superior Court Operations Manager Linda McDonald, and Victim Witness Advocate Jennifer Allen. They acknowledged the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michelle Jackson, Tamara Rubb, and Nebiyu Feleke, who prosecuted the case.