MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Lakoria Shamece Washington was arraigned on a second-degree murder charge Thursday in a Miami-Dade County courtroom.
Former State Senator Daphne Campbell and her family were in the courtroom. Upon seeing her son’s alleged killer for the first time, the Miami senator broke down in tears the moment the case was called.
Prosecutors say it was Washington who forced her way into the apartment where her ex-girlfriend and the state senator’s son, Jason Dwayne Campbell, were sleeping.
The woman told investigators that she got out of bed when she heard a knock on the door just before 8 a.m. on Tuesday, June 1. When she opened it, she saw Washington pull out a gun and then force her way into the apartment. The female resident also confirmed to police that the person in a still photograph taken from surveillance from the Northwest Miami-Dade apartments the morning of the shooting was Washington and that she was her ex-girlfriend.
Washington, 24, is facing murder charges, armed burglary with assault and battery, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, in the case against her.
At 8:30 a.m. on June 1, police and fire rescue were dispatched to the Montecarlo of Miami Condominium Apartments on Northwest 165th Street in reference to a shooting. There they found Campbell lying in the parking lot unresponsive, where he was pronounced dead at the scene at 8:42 a.m. They then followed a trail of blood, which let them to an apartment on the fifth floor.
The witness told police that she ran out of the apartment and hid in the laundry room. She said she then heard a gunshot, but did not witness the shooting or anyone leaving the scene.
Investigators reviewing surveillance video said that Washington is seen entering the complex at 7:57 a.m.
U.S. Marshals tracked down Washington more than three weeks later about 260 miles away, north of Miami, in Port Orange, Fla.
Campbell’s family was hoping for a first-degree murder charge during Thursday’s hearing. The assistant state attorney said they were unable to bring the case before a grand jury for that first-degree murder charge before Thursday’s appearance. In order to keep her behind Washington behind bars, they did what they could and charged her with second-degree murder, according to the assistant state attorney.
Washington is currently being held with no bond. The first-degree murder case is expected to go in front of a grand jury in September.