LA PLATA, Md. — Tony Covington, State’s Attorney for Charles County, announced on March 7, 2025, that a Charles County jury convicted 20-year-old Elijah Bernard Barnes of second-degree murder and related charges following a five-day trial. The charges stemmed from the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Rajon Lateef Jackson, III, in Waldorf on January 13, 2023.
On that day, officers responded to a report of a shooting at Harvest Fish Place, where they found Jackson on the street suffering from four gunshot wounds to his face and neck. Jackson was rushed to the hospital but later succumbed to his injuries.
Witnesses reported that Jackson had just exited his school bus and was walking toward his residence when Barnes called him over to his vehicle. As Jackson approached, Barnes shot him four times before fleeing the scene. Investigators identified Barnes as the suspect, noting that he was seated in a silver Toyota Corolla with a missing hubcap on the front driver’s side during the shooting.
Surveillance footage from a nearby gas station captured Barnes in the same vehicle moments before the murder. Three minutes after leaving the gas station, neighborhood cameras recorded the Corolla near the scene of the crime. Barnes was later identified and arrested in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, five days after the shooting.
Barnes now faces a sentencing date scheduled for May 2, 2025, and could face up to 68 years in prison for his role in the killing of Rajon Jackson.
