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‘He Was a Good Man': Family Mourns Father Killed on Q Street

A group of people were standing outside an apartment building on Q Street NW early Saturday when gunshots rang out. A total of eight people were hit. 

Algernon Harvey Jones, 32, died after he was shot multiple times. He was the father of a 10-year-old daughter, the child's mother said Monday.

"He was a good man, a good friend, a good father, a good everything," Annie Ubom said, tears streaming down her face.

052917 algernon jones
Courtesy of family
Algernon Jones

She said she learned on Sunday that Jones had been killed as he hung out with friends on Memorial Day weekend. 

"I found out through a phone call yesterday, from his friend, at 6:44 a.m., that my best friend was gone. My everything was gone," she said.

Jones died after shots were fired on the 100 block of Q Street NW, about a half-mile southeast of the Shaw-Howard University Metro station. Police arrived about 1 a.m. and pronounced Jones dead on the scene.

Police say one man has died and seven other people were hurt in a shooting in Northwest D.C. early Saturday morning. Officers are looking for two men who left the scene. News4's Derrick Ward reports.

Jones' younger sister, Veronica Jones, said her family was stunned.

"I'm angry. My family's angry. We're confused. We're hurt. There's just no understanding here," she said.

Jones took care of his younger sister.

"He's always been there. He's always been my protector," Veronica Jones said.

A neighbor who has lived on Q Street for nearly 50 years said he heard about 10 shots early Saturday. 

"I just throw myself on the floor because you never know which way they're going to go," he said, asking News4 not to use his name.

He said he lives in fear of violence.

"One of these days, those guys are going to shoot up and I'm going to end up with a bullet in my head," he said.

One man has died and six men and one woman are hurt after a shooting early Saturday on Q Street NW. News4's Derrick Ward reports.

He placed a cinder block on his windowsill to deflect bullets. After the shooting that killed Jones, the neighbor found a bullet lodged in the headrest of the cab he drives.

A surveillance image captured just minutes before the shooting shows a crowd of people standing in the parking lot of the apartment complex. Neighbors said they believed there was drug dealing in the parking lot. 

Police Chief Peter Newsham said Saturday that the shooter or shooters will be found.

"Just find them. Just find them," Ubom pleaded.

Unrelated to the killing, two people were arrested on gun charges Monday evening near the scene of the crime.

Jones' sister had these words for her brother's killer: "We love you, because you obviously haven't had enough love. For you to do something like that, you have not had love in your life. So, we love you. We will forgive you. But you have to do what's right for yourself, as well as us." 

In the meantime, Jones' daughter is crying herself to sleep.

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