Jury Finds District Man Guilty of Armed Robbery with a Knife in Northeast Washington

            WASHINGTON – Kevon Lockerman, 29, of Washington, D.C., was found guilty today by a Superior Court jury of armed robbery, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Chief Pamela Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            The verdict follows a two-day trial. According to the government’s evidence, on June 15, 2023, the defendant and another man, who was never identified, went into a smoke shop on West Virginia Avenue NE and tried to set up their own business inside, with a scale, a knife, and product they offered for sale. The store’s surveillance footage showed that when the complainant walked in, the defendant and his accomplice try to sell the complainant marijuana without success. The defendant handed a knife to his accomplice as the complainant spoke to the store’s clerk. When the complainant turned to leave the shop, the defendant and his accomplice blocked the complainant’s path. The accomplice gestured toward the knife, which he had tucked in the front of his pants, and the complainant handed the defendant cash. After the two men left together, the complainant turned to the store clerk with tears in his eyes, and told him he had been robbed. Police arrested the defendant roughly three weeks later near the same smoke shop.

            The Honorable Erik Christian has scheduled sentencing for June 27, 2024.

            In announcing the verdict, U.S. Attorney Graves and Chief Smith commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. They also commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Iris McCranie, who investigated the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elizabeth Van Haasteren and Matthew Goldstein, who prosecuted the case.