Police found Jamillah Gales’ 2-year-old son unharmed near the scene before arresting Hakeem Jones.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — An Amber Alert for a 2-year-old boy ended April 22 when police found him unharmed near the Northwest Washington alley where his mother, Jamillah Gales, had been fatally shot hours earlier.
The search for the child turned a homicide investigation into an urgent public alert before police arrested Hakeem Jones, 28, in a nearby residence. Gales, 25, had been with her son shortly before the shooting, police said. Jones is now held without bond in the D.C. jail after prosecutors charged him with first-degree murder while armed. The case has left investigators tracing two connected timelines: where the child was after his mother was killed and what happened between Gales and Jones in the alley.
The first call came late April 21. Fourth District officers responded at about 10:52 p.m. to the 600 block of Kenyon Street NW after a report of a shooting. They found Gales in a rear alley, unconscious and not breathing, with apparent gunshot wounds. Emergency crews tried to save her, but she was pronounced dead at the scene. Detectives soon learned that Gales had been with her 2-year-old son not long before the shooting. When the boy was not immediately located, the Metropolitan Police Department issued an Amber Alert early the next morning. The alert placed the child’s safety at the center of the response while officers worked the homicide scene and searched nearby homes.
The boy was found shortly before 11 a.m. April 22 in a residence near where Gales was killed. Police said he was unharmed. Jones and another adult man were also inside the residence. Investigators later determined the second man was not involved in the offense. Court records later added detail about how the child got there. A witness told police Gales and Jones left an apartment to go to the store and asked him to watch the toddler. About one hour later, the witness said Jones returned without Gales and the witness was told she had gone to another store. The same witness later contacted police after seeing news that an Amber Alert had been issued for the child.
That account gave investigators a bridge between the missing-child response and the murder case. Authorities said Jones is not the child’s father. They have not publicly described the prior relationship between Jones and Gales, and Interim Police Chief Jeffery Carroll said investigators were still working to determine both the relationship and the motive. The absence of a known motive has left the charging records focused on movement, video and physical evidence. Police said Gales had been staying at the apartment where the child was left. Another local report described Jones as staying there on and off. Those details placed the apartment, the alley and the nearby residence where the boy was found within the same small area of Northwest Washington.
Prosecutors said surveillance video from the area showed the suspect and Gales entering the alley before the shooting. The footage appeared to show a brief physical altercation, according to court records described at Jones’ first appearance. Prosecutors said the video then showed a suspect taking a shooting stance with arms extended toward Gales, pointing what appeared to be a firearm with a flashlight attached. Police said Gales was shot twice in the back. Jones’ defense attorney argued that the video did not prove Jones was the masked person in the footage. The attorney also challenged the government’s reliance on clothing and other items found in the apartment, saying those items were not tied to Jones.
The government’s case at the first court stage relied on the video, witness statements and items found after the arrest. Prosecutors said clothing and a black bag recovered in the apartment were similar to items worn by the suspect in nearby security footage. They also said the person in the footage matched Jones by height and weight. A judge found probable cause and ordered Jones held without bond. Police first announced that Jones had been charged with second-degree murder while armed. By the time he appeared in court Thursday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia had filed a first-degree murder while armed charge, a more serious count that signals prosecutors believe the evidence supports a higher level of intent.
Gales’ family has described her publicly through a memorial fundraiser organized by her cousin, Tahmia Farmer. Farmer wrote that Gales was a devoted mother and that her son was “truly her world.” The fundraiser said the family was devastated by her sudden death and was raising money for funeral expenses and future support for the boy. It had recorded 49 donations and more than $3,000 raised toward a $10,000 goal. The family statement did not identify a suspect and said the circumstances were still unclear to relatives at the time it was posted. In court and police records, the same uncertainty appears in a different form: investigators have not announced a motive, and the defense has challenged the identification of Jones as the shooter.
The case also raised questions about Jones’ status before the shooting. Prosecutors said in court that Jones had two convictions for unlawfully carrying a firearm and was on parole for one of them. They said he had been released from jail March 6, about six weeks before Gales was killed. Those facts were presented during the detention argument, where the judge had to decide whether Jones should remain in custody while the case moves forward. The police department’s public release identified him as a Northwest Washington man and listed the case under complaint number 26053200. It did not include a detailed account of the alleged confrontation or any statement from Jones.
For police, the case began with a body in an alley and widened when a toddler could not be found. For prosecutors, it now turns on whether the video and supporting evidence can prove who fired the shots. For Gales’ family, the public record is much smaller than the loss described in the fundraiser: a young mother killed, a child left without her and a court process only beginning. No public filing has said where the child was placed after he was found unharmed, and authorities have not released new details about the motive.
Currently, Jones is scheduled to return to court May 6. He remains jailed without bond as police continue to investigate the Kenyon Street shooting and prosecutors prepare the first-degree murder while armed case.
Author note: Last updated May 19, 2026.