Indictment Charges District Man with First-Degree Murder and Conspiracy in December 2022 Shooting in Northeast D.C.

            WASHINGTON – Jajuan Gripper, 21, of Washington, D.C., was charged by indictment on December 20, 2023, for the December 20, 2022 murder of 34-year-old Rynell Bradford, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            The indictment charges Gripper with conspiracy, first-degree premeditated murder while armed, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, and carrying a pistol without a license.

            According to the government’s evidence, in the evening on Tuesday, December 20, 2022, Gripper and two unindicted co-conspirators followed Bradford out of an apartment building in Northeast Washington, D.C.  The three suspects then opened fire on Bradford as he ran away from them down a public street in a residential neighborhood.  Gripper and his co-conspirators fired a total of at least 19 shots, striking Bradford once in the back of the head.  Bradford was pronounced dead at the scene.

            Gripper was arrested in March 2023 and has been detained pending trial since his arrest.

            This case is being investigated by members of MPD’s Homicide Branch.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles R. Jones.

            An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.