District Man Pleads Guilty to Murder Charge Related to 2015 Stabbing in Southeast Washington

            WASHINGTON – Tyreke Chambers, 20, of Washington D.C., has pled guilty to a charge of second-degree murder while armed stemming from his involvement in an attempted robbery that ended with the victim being stabbed in the heart, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Chambers pled guilty on Aug. 27, 2018, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The plea, which is subject to the Court’s approval, calls for an agreed-upon sentence of 10 years in prison. He is to be sentenced on Oct. 26, 2018, by the Honorable Craig Iscoe.

            According to a proffer of facts submitted at the plea hearing, the stabbing took place at approximately 10:15 p.m. on Feb. 4, 2015 in the 2400 block of Alabama Avenue SE. The victim, Tracey Jones, 46, was intoxicated and limping down the street while on his cell phone. Chambers and a group of associates were on the same street, walking towards Mr. Jones. Chambers and his associates decided to rob Mr. Jones, who was carrying a backpack. As the group approached Mr. Jones, an altercation began. During the altercation, Chambers and at least one other individual struck Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones then fell to the ground and crawled away from the altercation, while one of the individuals with Chambers took Mr. Jones’s backpack as they fled.

            Shortly thereafter, officers from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Seventh District responded to the scene and located Mr. Jones, who was suffering from an apparent stab wound to his upper body. An autopsy revealed that Mr. Jones had been stabbed once in the chest with a sharp instrument that penetrated his heart.

            Over the course of the investigation, detectives recovered a knife and red jumpsuit from Chambers’s residence. The investigation revealed that the red jumpsuit, as well as GPS records, placed Chambers at the scene of the crime. In interviews, Chambers admitted to being with the group that had decided to rob Mr. Jones. At his plea hearing, he admitted to being the individual who actually stabbed him. Chambers was arrested in December of 2015 and has remained incarcerated ever since.

            In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Liu and Chief Newsham commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. They also expressed appreciation for the assistance provided by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which provided Metrobus footage of Chambers and his associates in the area of the crime. They acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Liebman and Damien Diggs, Investigative Analyst Zachary McMenamin, Paralegal Specialist Lornce Applewhite, and Victim/Witness Advocate Jennifer Clark.

            Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily A. Miller, who investigated and indicted the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lindsey Merikas and Shehzad Akhtar, who prosecuted the case.