WASHINGTON — (The video above is from February 2021)
Tymesha Robinson still has a shrine at home dedicated to her son – a 15-year-old who launched a fashion start-up during the pandemic, only to be shot and killed near a Southeast middle school more than a year ago.
There is no amnesia, Robinson said. Only anguish. The killing of Jamarid Robinson remains unsolved, after a year of rising violence across the District.
Metropolitan Police confirmed Monday the investigation into Jamarid’s 2021 death remains active, including a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. Yet the teenager’s mother said she’s still haunted by the unsolved killing, unable to bear the process of changing the course of her life.
“Every night, I still cry,” Robinson said in an interview. “This year, I plan on getting the rest of my three kids out of D.C. I can’t be here any longer. I don’t trust anybody.”
Neighbors heard the gunfire on Jan. 26, 2021, in the 2600 block of 12th Place, Southeast.
Police reported an individual opened fire multiple times after 7 p.m., behind John Hayden Johnson Middle School. Robinson heard the police sirens pass her home, traveling towards the school. She texted her son to come home, and still checks the text to this day.
“I still remember how he just left the house and was out for only seven minutes,” she said. “After I texted, the whole time, the police I heard were running to the scene of my son.”
Robinson said she cries when she looks at the logos Jamarid designed after school, printing them onto hoodies or other clothes when he logged off from virtual learning.
“My firstborn was making a business at 15,” she said. “I haven’t been the same, knowing he and what he saw are gone.”
Anyone with information about this case may call Metropolitan Police anonymously at 202-727-9099. Additionally, anonymous information may be submitted to the department’s TEXT TIP LINE by sending a text to 50411.
Sign up for the Get Up DC newsletter: Your forecast. Your commute. Your news.
Sign up for the Capitol Breach email newsletter, delivering the latest breaking news and a roundup of the investigation into the Capitol Riots on January 6, 2021.