Local
Council candidate provides tip in D.C. gay murder
A gay man who was shot to death in his car in Southeast Washington last week may have been the target of a thug who’s “terrorizing” the Congress Heights neighborhood where he was killed, according to a local minister who is running for a seat on the D.C. City Council.
Rev. Anthony Motley said a mutual friend told him that the murder of Anthony J. Perkins, 29, may be linked to an unidentified man believed to be responsible for a string of robberies that Perkins learned about. Motley said the robbery suspect may have thought Perkins was about to report him to police.
Perkins was found dead in his car at Fourth and Oakwood streets, S.E., at 5:15 a.m. on Dec. 27.
“According to my sources, Anthony received a call that morning and left his house to go meet someone,” Motley told DC Agenda in an E-mail. “It is said that the individual Anthony knew who was robbing people had become paranoid that Anthony would talk. It’s assumed that is why he was shot.”
Homicide Detective John Bolden, one of the investigators working on the case, said police have no motive for the killing and had no suspects as of earlier this week.
Bolden said investigators were looking forward to talking with the mutual friend that Motley mentioned in his e-mail to the Agenda, with the hope that this individual could provide an important lead in the case.
Homicide squad Lt. Paul Wingate said police have no evidence so far to indicate the murder was a hate crime.
Police and Christopher Dyer, director of the Mayor’s Office of LGBT Affairs, have been distributing fliers that include a photo of Perkins to local LGBT organizations and activists, asking for help in identifying the person or people responsible for Perkins’ death.
Police are asking anyone with information about the case to call the homicide squad office at 202-645-9600 or the 24-hour police hotline at 202-727-9099. Similar to all D.C. homicides, police are offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a suspect linked to Perkins’ murder.
In a statement released the day of the murder, police said they found Perkins, whom they described as a “shooting victim,” seated inside his car on the 2900 block of Fourth St., S.E. The statement says the car had steam billowing from its engine when officers responded to reports of the sound of gunfire. A nearby resident identified the vehicle as a Lincoln Towncar.
“D.C. Fire & Emergency Medical Services Department personnel responded to the scene, but could find no life signs,” says the statement.
Perkins lived with his mother on the 1800 block of T Street, S.E., about two to three miles from the location where he was killed.
“I have known Anthony for more than a decade,” Motley said in his e-mail to the Agenda. “Anthony would attend my ministry on a regular basis.”
He called Perkins “a very good singer” who sometimes sang during church services.
“Anthony was a very generous and kind person,” Motley said. “He loved people and was always concerned about his mother and her well being.”
Motley said that it was through a mutual friend, who he did not identify, that he learned Perkins “was made aware of some information regarding an individual who was terrorizing the neighborhood and robbing people, especially at ATMs.”
The unidentified man said to have committed the robberies “lived very close to where Anthony was shot,” Motley said the mutual friend told him.
Motley, a long-time Democrat, announced last spring that he would become an independent candidate in the November 2010 general election for one of two at-large Council seats currently held by Council members Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) and David Catania (I-At Large). Catania is one of two openly gay members of the Council.
Veteran D.C. gay and Ward 8 civic activist Phil Pannell, who was recently elected president of the Congress Heights Civic Association, said Motley has been supportive of LGBT rights.
Pannell said he did not know Perkins, but recognized him from the police photo as someone who may have patronized one or more of the city’s gay bars.
Deputy Police Chief Diane Groomes told the Agenda that the police’s Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit was assisting the homicide squad in the investigation into Perkins’ murder.
Groomes disputed an earlier statement by Chris Farris, co-chair of the local group Gays & Lesbians Opposing Violence, that the GLLU had not immediately been contacted about the case, as had been the department’s practice in the past.
Farris and other LGBT activists have expressed concern that the department’s recent reorganization of the GLLU had resulted in its de-facto “dismantling.” They were referring to a plan by Police Chief Cathy Lanier to decentralize the unit by staffing it with a greater number of officers in each of the seven police districts.
According to Farris and other activists, the central GLLU headquarters in Dupont Circle had been reduced from seven full-time officers to just one or two officers a year or two before the department was ready to put in place GLLU affiliated officers in the seven police the districts.
“GLLU actually was notified on the night of the murder and has been assisting Homicide with said case,” Groomes told the Agenda in an e-mail. “At this time there are two full duty members, two members not full duty [at GLLU headquarters] and 25 affiliate members to assist in any matter that one may need assistance with. … [A]ll are available via the [GLLU] pager number.”
Maryland
Anne Arundel schools updates gender identity regulation following Trump administration threats
District facing federal lawsuit, White House threats over guidelines
By JESSICA CALEFATI | Under pressure from the Trump-Vance administration, Anne Arundel County Public Schools Supt. Mark Bedell announced Wednesday the district had updated a regulation intended to protect transgender students’ right to be called by their chosen name.
The revised language makes clear that district rules on gender identity do not block parents’ rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act as the federal government alleged last month, and that a student’s gender identity will not be treated as confidential medical information.
“No policy, guideline, or practice may limit or otherwise interfere with parental rights under FERPA,” Bedell wrote in a Wednesday letter to the community. “This includes any information maintained in education records that relates to gender identity, transgender status, sexual orientation, preferred name, or preferred pronouns.”
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
District of Columbia
Man charged with anti-gay assault in D.C. accepts plea offer
Community service offered in exchange for dismissing hate crime charge
A Germantown, Md., man arrested by D.C. police on a charge of simple assault with a hate crime designation for allegedly assaulting a gay man while using “homophobic slurs” has agreed to an offer by prosecutors to plead guilty to simple assault without the hate crime designation and with the promise of having the charge dismissed if he completes, among other requirements, 48 hours of community service work.
Dean Edmundson, 26, standing beside his attorney, officially accepted the offer of a Deferred Sentencing Agreement at an Aug. 18 status hearing in D.C. Superior Court after Senior Judge Hiram Puig-Lugo explained the details of the agreement and confirmed Edmundson’s decision to waive his right to a trial.
Among other things, the judge said the agreement offered by prosecutors with the Office of the United States Attorney for D.C. includes the requirement that he successfully completes 48 hours of community service work, stays away from the victim of the assault, writes a letter of apology to the victim, and does not violate any other laws or get into trouble for the next 12 months.
Puig-Lugo then announced he scheduled a sentencing hearing for Edmundson for Aug. 18, 2027, at which time a determination will made on whether he has fulfilled all the requirements under the agreement and whether the simple assault charge will be dismissed. The judge added that if it is determined that Edmundson did not fulfil the terms of the agreement the charge would remain in place and he could be sentenced to a possible maximum penalty of 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Edmundson, who appeared in court wearing a business suit with a dress shirt and tie, was released on his own recognizance following his arrest by D.C. police on Feb. 7, 2026.
Police and court records show he was initially charged by arresting officers with simple assault with a hate crime designation. In a statement announcing the arrest, D.C. police said, “On Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026, at approximately 7:45 p.m. the victim and suspect were in the 1500 block of 14th Street, Northwest. The suspect requested a ‘high five’ from the victim. The victim declined and kept walking,” the statement says.
A follow-up arrest affidavit filed by police states that Edmundson followed the victim and called him “bald, ugly, and gay,” and then “pushed the victim with both hands, shoving them, causing the victim to feel the force of the push.” The affidavit adds, “The victim stated that they felt offended and that they were also gay.”
According to the court records, the Office of the U.S. Attorney filed its official charge of simple assault against Edmunson on Feb. 9 without the hate crime designation. The office has not responded to a request by the Washington Blade for its reason for dropping the hate crime designation. The office has also not immediately responded to a follow-up inquiry from the Blade this week asking if prosecutors consulted the victim to obtain the victim’s thoughts about the plea offer.
The Blade, which has a policy of not disclosing the identify of crime victims in cases like this without their consent, could not immediately obtain contact information to reach the victim for comment.
Court records show that Edmundson rejected an earlier plea agreement offer by prosecutors and he was scheduled for a non-jury trial on Aug. 18. The records show his attorney filed a motion earlier this month asking the judge to convert the trial into status hearing on that same day after his client accepted the Deferred Sentencing Agreement offer by the U.S. Attorney’s office. The judge approved the motion without objection from prosecutors.
Virginia
Winsome Earle-Sears ‘Life and Marriage Tour’ to include Northern Va. stops
Voters to consider marriage equality, reproductive rights referenda in November
Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears has announced her campaign against efforts to enshrine marriage equality and reproductive rights in the state constitution will make several stops in Northern Virginia.
Her “Life and Marriage Tour” will include stops in Manassas, Winchester, and Harrisonburg. Earle-Sears said the “Life and Marriage Tour” will also travel to Virginia Beach, Lynchburg, Roanoke, Charlottesville, and other cities across Virginia “throughout September and October.”
The announcement did not include specific dates.
“Virginia, you’ve been asking where the Life and Marriage Tour is headed — here’s a look at our current tour locations,” she said on X on Tuesday. “We’ll be traveling across the commonwealth throughout September and October, and we’re still building the journey.”
Current Gov. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, last November defeated Earle-Sears, a Republican, in the race to succeed Republican Glenn Youngkin.
Voters in 2006 approved the Marshall-Newman Amendment, which defined marriage in Virginia as between a man and a woman.
Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in Virginia since 2014. Youngkin a decade later signed a bill that codified marriage equality in state law.
Two successive legislatures must approve a proposed constitutional amendment before it can go to the ballot.
Spanberger signed bills that finalized the marriage equality and reproductive rights referenda’s language.
The referenda will take place on Nov. 3.
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