Yesterday, the D.C. Police Department announced that they had arrested Reginald Rogers for the shooting death of Calvin Woodland on Jan. 27, 2010. So how did police detectives identify Rogers as the shooter? According to court records filed today, detectives got help from a few witnesses and…Facebook.
On Jan. 27, just after 10:30 p.m., officers arrived at a parking lot along the 800 Block of Barnaby Street SE. They found Woodland lying between two parked cars in front of 832 Barnaby suffering “from multiple gunshot wounds to his body.” After being transported to Prince George’s County Hospital, Woodland was pronounced dead at 11:20 p.m.
An autopsy concluded Woodland had died from two gunshot wounds to the back.
Detectives located a witness who was in the parking lot of the Gregory Apartments on Barnaby. The witness was with Woodland and two others when “two masked men armed with guns approached them,” according to the police document filed in D.C. Superior Court. The document goes on to state:
“When the masked gunmen approached and brandished their weapons, two of the people that were standing with [Woodland] and [the witness] ran away. [The witness] said that one of the gunmen was armed with a semi-automatic handgun and the second gunment was armed with a revolver.”
Despite the fact that the first gunman was wearing a mask, the witness was able to recognize the man. The mask did not cover his entire face. The witness was able to give a detailed description of the gunman. The gunman, the witness states, told them “to turn around and face the gate that they were standing in front of.” The two gun men then robbed Woodland and the witness. They then opened fire on Woodland and the witness. Both tried to flee. As they were running, the witness stated that he heard Woodland exclaim: “I’m hit.”
A second witness came forward to say that he had learned that one of the people involved in the robbery-murder was named “Rockem-Regg” and had discussed the murder on Facebook as “Rockem-Regg.”
The comments may have been removed. City Desk checked out his wall and found nothing except a tribute to J-Rock and dull smack talk:
*”WEN DEY DNT C ME ON DA BLOCK I AINT TRYNA HIDE, I BLEND N WIT DA ‘A’ IM CAMOFLOUGE………… U DIGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
*”shyt fukkd up im ji stressn 2 hard right now i think i c it round da corner……..TOO MEEE….”
*”MY GATEWAY 2 HELL SEEMS LIKE ITS CONSTANTLY OPEN… DA REAPOR IS CALLN SO IM CONSTANTLY SMOKN(I NEED 2 CLEAR MY HEAD OF DEEZ EVIL THOUGHTS N TEACH DA YOUNGNZ OF HIGHLAND DA SHYT I WAS TOUGHT) N I PUT FAITH N MY GLOCK CUZ I KNO ITS GON BUST….TYEEEE TOO ME MOE KILL”
Sweet stuff. More importantly Rockem Regg matched the first witness’description down to a tattoo of the number 8 under his left eye. Still, at first, the witness could not ID Rogers from a photo array. In a subsequent interview, the witness confessed that he knew the man and was scared of him. He then identified Rogers from a photo lineup.
The witness went on to explain a possible motive for the killing. Woodland had told the witness that he and Rogers/Rockem “were involved in a fight after [Woodland] stole a car from someone affiliated with [Rogers/Rockem]” a month before the shooting.
During an interview with detectives, Rogers admitted that his nickname was Rockem Regg and that he sells PCP out of the rear alley along the 700 block of Atlantic Street SE. Rogers admitted that people thought he had killed Woodland because he had assaulted him a month prior to the shooting. He said they fought after Woodland had allegedly stolen a car from a “Dipper Head” and that was bad for his “business.” Rogers said he heard that Woodland had talked about killing him.
Rogers said he was just down the street when Woodland was killed. He denied killing Woodland.