Police said the child was found hours later in a nearby residence with the man accused of killing his mother.
WASHINGTON — A 2-year-old boy who vanished after his mother was shot to death in Northwest Washington was found safe Wednesday morning, and police arrested a man on a second-degree murder charge in a case that triggered an Amber Alert and a frantic neighborhood search.
Police identified the woman as Jamillah Gales, 25, of no fixed address. Investigators said the case moved quickly from a late-night homicide scene in the 600 block of Kenyon Street NW to a citywide search for her missing son, Royce Hawkins, before officers located the child in a nearby residence shortly before 11 a.m. Wednesday. Interim Police Chief Jeffery Carroll said the killing appeared to grow out of an argument, turning a homicide investigation into an urgent child-recovery case within hours.
Officers were called to Kenyon Street at about 10:52 p.m. Tuesday after a report of a shooting, according to the Metropolitan Police Department. When they arrived, they found an adult woman in a rear alley, unconscious and not breathing, with apparent gunshot wounds. D.C. Fire and EMS crews tried to save her, but she was pronounced dead at the scene. At first, police did not immediately know who she was. Carroll later said that delay mattered because investigators were still trying to identify the woman when they learned that her 2-year-old son had been with her shortly before the shooting and could not be found. By early Wednesday, police issued an Amber Alert for Royce, describing him as a missing toddler whose mother had just been killed. News of the alert spread quickly across Northwest Washington, where neighbors woke to police activity, phone alerts and officers moving block by block in search of the child.
Investigators said their preliminary findings showed Gales had been with her son and two men before the shooting. Carroll said the adults were in or near an apartment before an argument escalated. At some point, Gales ended up in the alley, where she was shot. Police have not publicly detailed the full sequence of movements between the apartment and the alley, and they have not said what sparked the confrontation. They also had not publicly released the suspect’s name Wednesday because, MPD said, his identity was still being positively confirmed. What police did say was that the child was found unharmed inside a residence near the homicide scene, and that both the suspect and another adult male were in that residence when officers arrived. Neither man was the child’s father, police said. The second man was being questioned, and police had not said Wednesday whether he could face charges or whether he had any role in the shooting or in keeping the child afterward.
The case drew added attention because of how fast it shifted from a homicide to a child emergency. MPD said detectives determined the victim had been with Royce shortly before the shooting, and that finding prompted the Amber Alert early Wednesday. Officers then went door to door, gathered tips and narrowed the search to a nearby apartment. That work ended shortly before 11 a.m., when Royce was found alive and apparently unharmed. Police said he was taken to a hospital as a precaution. Carroll called the circumstances “tragic, tragic,” saying a simple argument had left a young child without his mother. Neighbors also reacted with alarm. One woman told NBC4 that hearing a baby was missing upset her deeply, reflecting the fear that settled over the block as residents waited for updates. Police were also trying to contact the child’s father after the recovery.
By Wednesday afternoon, the Amber Alert had been canceled and the homicide case had entered a more formal stage. MPD said the suspect had been arrested and charged with second-degree murder. Carroll said the suspect was expected to go before a judge for a bond review hearing Thursday, though court scheduling can change. The department also said detectives were continuing to sort out the relationships among Gales, the suspect, the second man and the child. Investigators had not publicly said whether the suspect and victim knew each other well, whether they had been staying at the same residence or how long the child had been with the men after the shooting. Those unanswered questions are likely to shape the next phase of the case, along with video evidence, witness interviews and forensic findings from the alley and the apartment where the child was recovered. Police have asked anyone with additional information to come forward.
On Kenyon Street, the case left behind the familiar signs of a neighborhood crime scene but also the heavier shock of a family tragedy. Officers moved through the area Wednesday morning as residents tried to piece together what had happened overnight. Video aired by local television showed police caring for the toddler after he was recovered and taking a man into custody. For neighbors, the relief that the boy had survived came alongside the reality that his mother had not. Carroll put that loss in blunt terms, saying the child “no longer has a mother, for really no reason.” The line captured what many people on the block appeared to feel: relief at the child’s recovery, grief over the killing and lingering disbelief that an argument in an alley had ended with one person dead and a small child at the center of an emergency search.
As of Wednesday evening, Royce Hawkins had been found safe, an arrest had been made and the homicide investigation remained active. The next expected milestone was the suspect’s court appearance Thursday as police continue to identify all involved and reconstruct the events leading up to the shooting.
Author note: Last updated April 23, 2026.