In the early morning hours of February 19, 2017, a dispute at a house party in the 6300 block of N. 29th Street in Arlington, Virginia, ended with 23-year-old Michael Gray of Manassas being fatally shot. First responders found Gray with a gunshot wound around 3:22 a.m.; he was taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital and later died of his injuries.

Investigators identified 38-year-old Jason Allen Johnson of Washington, D.C., as the primary suspect. Monique Williams, 27, of Capitol Heights, Maryland, was later implicated for assisting Johnson after the homicide; she was arrested in March 2017 and charged with being an accessory after the fact. Johnson fled the area and was located on October 24, 2017, during a shoplifting arrest in Manhattan, where authorities discovered he was wanted for Gray’s killing and he was extradited to Virginia.

On July 31, 2018, Johnson pleaded guilty to amended charges including second-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and being a violent felon in possession of a firearm, receiving a combined sentence of 23 years. Williams pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor obstruction of justice charge and was given a suspended 12-month jail sentence.