Activist Who Pushed For Soft On Crime Bill In DC Is Murder The Day It Passed

Kelvin Blowe was shot and killed in Washington, D.C., on the same day the city council voted unanimously to pass a bill he advocated for that reduces penalties for serious offenses such as robbery, burglary, carjackings, and carrying a firearm without a license.

The Washington Post reports Blowe had spent over five years in prison for robbery, and the experience "instilled in him a passion to right inequities he believed he encountered."

After getting out, he joined DC Justice Lab, one of the groups that pushed to overhaul the city's criminal code. He testified in support of the proposed bill in December.

The Marine Corps veteran, who was diagnosed with PTSD, was working as a security guard and was taking coworkers home last week when he was shot and killed when a gunman "emerged from a stolen car after a crash with Blowe. Authorities said they believe Blowe also possessed a weapon, as they recovered a gun next to his body… Blowe's family said they did not know he had a weapon."