Aaron Marckell Williams was on his way to church. The 26 year-old-photographer was set to record the launch of a three-day religious revival in Upper Marlboro that started Wednesday night. He was looking forward to singing tenor in the choir Thursday.
Santana Matthews, 20, was speeding down 16th Street NW in a Chevy Malibu in flight from a police traffic stop, authorities said. He collided with another car at L Street and struck Williams in the crosswalk before hitting two additional cars and injuring two other drivers.
Williams was pronounced dead at the scene. Matthews, who ran from the crash on foot, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder while armed with a vehicle. The two D.C. police officers who attempted the traffic stop have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation by the department’s internal affairs bureau.
Hours earlier, Williams texted his friend Quincy Chester to ask for a specific camera lens. Chester was going to record video of the revival that night while Williams took photos. He didn’t have the lens, and he believes that when he was killed Williams was headed to his car from a camera equipment rental store about two blocks from the crash site.
Chester introduced Williams to Northeast’s Greater Mt Calvary Holy Church a few years ago. At the time, friends said Williams was struggling with his purpose and his career path coming out of college and the pandemic. But he threw himself into church, getting baptized again in January 2025. “It was like this light that just illuminated” him, Chester said. “He exuded Christ-like attributes — he extended grace to others. When anybody was down, he would send you a scripture, he would say he would pray for you.”
Williams convinced other young adults to start attending church and form a Bible study group, which he pushed his friend David Dupree Jr. to lead despite his shyness. “He could see the potential in people,” Dupree said. Williams had been talking about how excited he was to sing at the revival, making sure they represented their community in a joint event with a Maryland church.
“Every time you saw him he had a smile on his face,” Mount Calvary Pastor Rodney L. Carter said. “He was so electrifying to be around.”
Williams had also just started a relationship. On the Sunday before his death, he had served the woman he had been seeing a stack of pancakes with “Will you be my girlfriend?” written in chocolate syrup. She said yes.
The collision occurred just before 4 p.m. Wednesday, as downtown D.C.’s streets were beginning to fill with people leaving work. Following the crash, Matthews exited from the Malibu’s passenger side door and fled down 16th Street, removing his coat and throwing an object from his hand, according to court documents.
On K Street, Matthews was intercepted by two D.C. police officers. The officers then retrieved Matthew’s coat and a quart-sized bag that appeared to contain a “green weed like substance,” according to court documents. A digital scale and additional Ziploc bag were also discovered on Matthews, court documents show. He was taken to a hospital because of cuts on his face.
Court documents record two witnesses saying they saw a cruiser following the Malibu before the collision. Others say they saw a pursuit earlier. Alex Wroblewski, a freelance photographer, was in a car at the intersection of 16th and Q streets NW around 3:45 p.m. Wednesday when he said he was almost struck by a series of cars barreling past. First, a dark Chevy Malibu. Then, two marked police cruisers and an unmarked car with emergency lights on. He said a woman in the car next to him rolled her window down so they could talk about how they were almost hit. Less than five minutes later, the crash occurred.
“I feel very grateful to be here and not in a hospital,” Wroblewski said in an interview with The Washington Post on Thursday. “I was thinking about that all day.”
According to a police affidavit, Matthews told police at an interview in the hospital that the Malibu belonged to his aunt, and he had borrowed the car to drop his girlfriend off at a hair appointment. Matthews said that the first time he saw police was when they came running toward him after the crash.
He told investigators he sped up to an estimated 60 mph at a yellow light at the intersection when he struck a car making a left-hand turn. He denied seeing a pedestrian in the crosswalk and said that he exited the car looking for help, according to a court document. The speed limit for the area is 25 mph.
Investigators noted that Matthews is not authorized to drive in D.C. He was arrested at the hospital on charges of second-degree murder, fleeing from law enforcement, driving without a permit and leaving the scene after a collision, police said.
Matthews made a brief court appearance Thursday evening in D.C. Superior Court, where a judge ordered him held in jail without bond to await his preliminary hearing Jan. 27.
Matthews was already on probation for two 2024 cases involving gun and drug charges. He pleaded guilty twice to carrying a pistol without a license, court records show. He was also arrested and charged on Dec. 20 with unlawful possession of a firearm by federal agents working as part of the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force. But that case was dismissed the case for lack of probable cause.
An attorney for Matthews argued the crash had been an accident, asking the judge not to uphold the second-degree murder and for Matthews to not be held in jail. The attorney described Matthews as a lifelong Washingtonian and graduate of Calvin Coolidge High School who worked as a carpenter’s apprentice and lived with his mother and sister in D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood.
Magistrate Judge Dorsey G. Jones denied the request.
“There’s no question in my mind that driving that fast in a highly congested area like this constitutes an extreme disregard for life,” he said.
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