WASHINGTON – Reginald Steele, Jr., 26, of Washington, D.C. was sentenced today for killing 13-year-old Malachi Lukes, on March 1, 2020, and for a separate shooting in the Petworth neighborhood on Feb. 22, 2020, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine F. Pirro.
Steele was found guilty on Nov. 19, 2025, of one count of first-degree murder while armed, several counts of assault with intent to kill while armed and other firearm-related charges. Superior Court Judge Rainey Brandt sentenced Steele to 107 years in prison.
“Reginald Steele Jr. and his crew hunted down 13-year-old Malachi Lukes, who was walking to a basketball court, shooting him in the back as he ran for his life. Gang violence poses a grave threat to our communities and for these gang members—those days are over,” said U.S. Attorney Pirro. “Today, justice has caught up with a man who showed complete disregard for human life. Justice has been served, and our city is safer because of it.”
Steele and four co-defendants — who were tried and convicted separately —are members and associates of the neighborhood crews 3500, CHV, Rock Creek Church, Really Ready Gang, and 640. The defendant’s neighborhood was feuding with street crews Ninth Street between 2019 and 2020, over who was the “Real NW Goon,” 3500 and Really Ready Gang member Tahlil Byrd, also known as Slatt Goon, or Ninth Street rapper Tyree Marshall, known as Slime Goon. The feud escalated when Slatt Goon was killed in Ninth Street territory, the 600 block of S Street NW, in September 2019.
On March 1, 2020, Steele and three co-defendants drove to Ninth Street territory, circling the neighborhood looking for members and associates of Ninth Street. As they drove throughout the neighborhood in a stolen vehicle, they spotted 13-year-old Malachi Lukes who was walking with his three teen friends, toward the 600 block of S Street NW, to play basketball. The defendants followed the boys, pulled into that block and stopped by the mouth of an alley where Malachi and his friends had turned. Then the defendant and one of his co-defendants exited the vehicle and fired 11 gunshots. Lukes was shot in the back as he fled and collapsed to his death. Another victim was shot in the leg.
Steele and his co-defendants then traveled to another neighborhood and opened fire on individuals in that block, where other members of Ninth Street were known to hang out. No one was injured in this shooting.
Joining the announcement was Interim Chief Jeffery Carroll of the Metropolitan Police Department.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Pirro and Interim Chief Carroll commended the work of those investigating the case from the Metropolitan Police Department, Office of E-Litigation Chief Emily Miller; Special Counsel for Discovery Chimnomnso Kalu; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the United States Marshals Service; D.C. Department of Forensic Sciences; the U.S. Park Police; Montgomery County Police Department; and the D.C. Department of Corrections. They also commended Assistant United States Attorneys Michelle Jackson, Tamara Rubb and Nebiyu Feleke for prosecuting this case.
2020 CF1 005017
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office — District of Columbia — U.S. Department of Justice press release.