Update: On March 9, a judge ordered that Jason Lewis, the former D.C. government employee who killed 13-year-old Karon Blake, be released from jail as he awaits trial. He will be placed on permanent home confinement until further notice, according to court documents. Lewis faces charges of second-degree murder and various assault and firearm charges. A trial date has been set for April 2024.

Original: Jason Lewis, a D.C. government employee, was indicted by a grand jury for killing 13-year-old Karon Blake outside his Brookland home earlier this year.

According to D.C. Superior Court documents, Lewis was charged last month with six counts; second-degree murder, three counts of possession of a firearm during a violent crime, and two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. charged Lewis, a Department of Parks and Recreation employee, with second-degree murder in late January, and a grand jury indicted him on the six counts in February, according to case files.

Lewis had turned himself in shortly after charges were filed in late January. He has maintained his innocence, pleading not guilty. Lewis’ felony arraignment is scheduled for March 9.

“While this is certainly a tragedy, once all the facts are heard, I believe that a jury will find that there was no crime here,” wrote Lewis’ lawyer Lee Smith III in a statement after the murder charge was filed.

Lewis fatally shot Karon on Jan. 7, after he allegedly saw Karon and possibly two other people breaking into vehicles near Quincy Street and Michigan Avenue. Initially, police reports stated that Lewis “heard noises and observed someone that appeared to be tampering with vehicles” in the early morning hours. Lewis went outside his home and approached Karon, where the two had some sort of interaction. Lewis then shot Karon multiple times, and the 13-year-old died later that morning.

Karon’s killing prompted anger and grief from community members, who criticized D.C. police for waiting weeks before naming Lewis as Karon’s killer. During the investigation, D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee pushed back against residents’ demands, and decried community members for allegedly sharing misinformation that could compromise the case.

An affidavit released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office upon the filing of charges on Jan. 31 provided more details about the killing. The affidavit states that Lewis told police he fired two shots at Karon after Karon allegedly ran toward him, but an investigation revealed that Lewis had fired an initial shot at a person sitting in a vehicle nearby. According to Contee, this piece of information showed that Lewis fired a gun in a situation where he wasn’t under immediate threat. Surveillance footage of the incident also contradicted Lewis’ claim that Karon was running toward him. An officer who reviewed the footage said Karon did not come onto Lewis’ property, and that he was only running in front of Lewis’ home.

Family, friends, and classmates remembered Karon — an older brother to three younger siblings — as a smart kid and curious boy, who always had a book under his arm.

This story has been updated to reflect that on March 9, Lewis was ordered to be released from Jail.