Mocobizscene- James Carl Jackson, 28, of Silver Spring, a resident of Montgomery County, pleaded guilty on February 14 to second-degree murder while carrying a weapon in connection with the shooting death of Christian Monje. He could spend up Maryland 23 years in prison.
On Monday, May 30, 2022, at around 4:30 a.m., the Homicide Branch of the Metropolitan Police Department responded to a complaint of multiple gunshots heard in the 1700 block of Rhode Island Avenue in Northwest, DC.
Officers reported that when they arrived, they saw Monje bleeding heavily from a gunshot wound to the head on the steps of St. Matthew’s Cathedral.
After the Memorial Day shooting, he was sent to a nearby hospital where he passed just a few weeks later.
Prosecutors claim that surveillance footage from the area captured Jackson approaching Monje while he was sitting on the church steps. Investigators found a loaded 9mm Polymer80 “ghost gun” behind a trash after he was last seen running down a nearby alley.
“The case remained unsolved for months until law enforcement received notice of a Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) link between a DNA profile obtained from the magazine of the murder weapon and Jackson’s reference DNA profile,” they stated.
Monje worked for Fairfax County Public Schools at the time of his death. Friends and family recalled him for his love of cooking and his willingness to share that love with others on social media.
He referred to himself as Chef Dembow, and that is how everyone knew him. Earlier this year, the creators of a GoFundMe campaign for Monje claimed, “Christian had a dream to have his food truck with his logo CHEF DEMBOW.” “He cherished the time he spent with Roman, his only nephew. So that he could someday prepare meals for his mother, he was teaching him how to cook.
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