Overview

• 18-year-old Jelani Cousin has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder for the fatal shooting of Ashlei Hinds, a Louisiana State University student, at a New Year's Eve party in a D.C. hotel.
• The shooting occurred just before 1:20 a.m. on January 1, marking the first homicide reported in Washington D.C. in 2024.
• Hinds was attending the party with a group of people, some of whom she didn't know closely. An altercation broke out after someone was told to leave, and shots were fired.
• Hinds was a rising star, having graduated from Dr. Henry A. Wise Jr. High School as the Student Government Association president and a member of the National Honors Society. She was studying sports administration at Louisiana State University with the hope of becoming a sports agent or an athletic director.
• The fatal shooting continues a homicide crisis in D.C., which saw 274 homicides reported in 2023, the highest number of murders the city has seen since 1997.