Arrest made weeks after body found bound, burned in Logan Circle apartment

An arrest has been made in a gruesome death where a man was found bound and burned inside his Logan Circle apartment, according to Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) leaders.

Interim Police Chief Jeffery Carroll announced on Tuesday the arrest of Rico Barnes, 36, in the death of Syed Hammad Hussain, whose body was discovered in February. Investigators said they have a second suspect in the case as well, who is currently being held on unrelated charges. Police did not release the name of the second suspect, though other court documents identify a second suspect as Alphonso Walker.

Carroll said MPD would identify the second suspect once formal charges in the homicide are filed.

Court documents revealed that second suspect was wearing a court-ordered GPS monitor at the time of the attack.

Police believe the two suspects followed Hussain back to his apartment on Feb. 11 in the 1400 block of Rhode Island Ave NW. After Hussain entered the apartment building, officers said Barnes and the other suspect knocked on the door and attacked the victim when he opened it. Police said the attack was caught on surveillance video.

"The suspects assaulted Mr. Hussain in the lobby and then forced him toward his apartment," Cmdr. Kevin Kentish said. "Our homicide detectives pored countless hours into locating video that captured the suspects after they left Mr. Hussain's apartment."

Police said the motive for the attack was to steal items from the victim's apartment. Charging documents included surveillance images showing the men leaving the apartment with bags of clothing and a bicycle, among other items about an hour after they entered.

"This is a very tragic case. In this case, like I said, Mr. Hussain was literally just going out to get food and coming back home. They knocked on the door and he let them inside. I'm sure he probably thought it was somebody else from the building. We see things like that all the time, where there may be a fellow neighbor in an apartment building, or things like that, and folks will let them in. In this case, they just took advantage of him. Like I said, this is a heinous crime, as far as the injuries that were inflicted upon him. It's just terrible. There are no words to put in there. And then, they just casually leave the scene there," Carroll said.

Investigators said Hussain was found inside his apartment, having been bludgeoned, strangled, burned and tied up with neck ties.

Fire crews were the first responders at the scene after getting a call of smoke in the apartment complex's hallway.

When they arrived, they made the eerie discovery of Hussain's body, beaten and burned.

According to the medical examiner, Hussain was already dead when he was burned. MPD officials said the fire was set after the assault.

Residents who live nearby said they could not believe such a brutal murder happened in what they thought was a safe community.

"It was hard to fathom happening here," said Nicholas Aufiero. "I wouldn't expect it here. I moved a year-and-a-half ago here, and never heard about something like that happening."

Police encouraged people to be aware of their surroundings and to avoid traveling alone at night.

"We always encourage people, especially if you're going to go out late at night, go out in pairs when you can, stay in well-lit areas. If you do have people that come, if you're in an apartment building or a multi-unit facility, if someone comes to the door that you don't know - and I know it's going to be challenging sometimes - is to not to let them in," Carroll said.

Aufiero said it's unfortunate he and other neighbors have to be so vigilant.

"I feel like it's a young neighborhood. I see people knocking on the door and it looks like my neighbor's friend or something," Aufiero said. "I don't like having to think about is this person attacking me."

https://wjla.com/news/local/dc-police-body-found-bound-burned-in-logan-circle-washington-chief-jeffery-carroll

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5852257&forum_id=2\u0026mark_id=5310909#49785338)

What is the "point" of choosing to dwell on psychopathic evil? What do you "gain" out of this?

It's just demoralization propaganda. Yeah, blacks are psychopathic and evil and we should kill all of them. We're all well aware. But until we're ready to actually start killing them, there's no point in dwelling on this kind of stuff

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5852257&forum_id=2\u0026mark_id=5310909#49785440)