The woman who died after a hit-and-run on Suitland Parkway Friday morning has been identified – and the same family that lost five loved ones in a devastating crash less than a year ago is mourning another death.
Octavia Tillman, 31, died after a crash about 11:45 p.m. Thursday at Suitland Parkway and Firth Sterling Avenue SE, police said.
"My sister was sweet, she was kind, she was loving," Tillman's sister Nikita Tillman said Friday.
Family members told News4 that Tillman, of Southeast D.C., was a cousin of sister Tameika Curtis and Typhani Wilkerson, two victims of the crash in Oxon Hill, Maryland in October that killed three women, two children and left 10 kids motherless.
"It just seems like every family member died of a car accident," Nikita Tillman said through tears. "It makes me not even want to get in the car."
On Thursday night, Tillman was heading home from her job in housekeeping at Washington Hospital Center with three coworkers when their Chrysler 300 was struck by a Volvo.
After the impact, the driver of the Volvo and one passenger in that car ran from the wreckage on foot, police said.
Local
Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
The passenger was found nearby with injuries and was arrested, police said, noting he was carrying a handgun. The driver is still at large.
Three people riding the Chrysler were taken to a hospital with injuries, along with a second passenger in the Volvo.
The investigation is ongoing.
"I just hope that they catch him. He took my sister's life," Nikita Tillman said.
The Metropolitan Police Department is asking anyone with information about this case to call the police at 202-727-9099. Anonymous information can be submitted to the department’s text tip line by text messaging 50411.
