FRIDAY, AUGUST 30 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ SU B5
we don’t have to choose between
renewable energy and clean wa-
ter.”
“Georgetown University’s ef-
forts to expand their use of solar
energy is admirable, but clean
energy should never require
clearing high quality forests,” she
said.
The Audubon Naturalist Soci-
ety’s Eliza Cava thanked Grum-
bles for his decision and “careful
consideration” of the impacts of
the projects.
“Solar energy has the potential
to move us toward a more just and
sustainable society, but only if
done right,” said Cava, the organi-
zation’s conservation director.
“We hope that Georgetown and
Origis will be able to find a more
suitable site for the solar farm and
commend them on working
toward climate change mitiga-
tion.”
[email protected]tricity the university consumes.
The parcel, which lies within
the Chesapeake Bay watershed, is
in one of the state’s “targeted
ecological areas,” meaning it is a
conservation priority for the De-
partment of Natural Resources. A
number of at-risk birds — includ-
ing bald eagles, warblers, eastern
whip-poor-wills and wood
thrushes — live there in the Nan-
jemoy forest, according to the
Audubon Society of Maryland
and D.C.
At public hearings in February
and May, activists accused
Georgetown and Origis of “green-
washing,” saying the Nanjemoy
forest should not have to be
harmed to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions.
The Chesapeake Bay Founda-
tion’s Maryland executive direc-
tor, Alison Prost, said in a state-
ment that she hopes the decision
“will set a precedent that ensuresthat would harm a stream and the
Chesapeake Bay.
Grumbles said in a statement
Wednesday that “water quality-
related conditions” were not met
at the site, a rural area about 12
miles west of La Plata.
“While Maryland strongly sup-
ports the increased use of clean
and renewable energy sources,
these two proposed projects
would harm the nearby high-
quality stream in Charles County
and threaten our continued resto-
ration progress in the Chesapeake
Bay watershed,” Grumbles said.
“This is an unacceptable trade-off
for the environmental benefits of
clean energy.”
Representatives of George-
town University and Origis En-
ergy, the company hired to devel-
op the solar farm, did not immedi-
ately respond to requests for com-
ment. The project would have
generated almost half of the elec-BY RACHEL CHASONMaryland Secretary of the En-
vironment Ben Grumbles has de-
nied a permit for a controversial
solar farm project that George-
town University wanted to build
in rural Charles County.
The project required razing
about 210 acres of trees, which
angered local activists. Protesters
at public hearings hosted by
Grumbles argued that while they
applauded Georgetown’s goal of
reducing its greenhouse gas emis-
sions, the project would actually
hurt the environment by endan-
gering birds and causing runoffBY LYNH BUIA man accused of killing an
Uber driver and passenger told
police he “messed up and that
everything happened so fast” in
replying to detectives asking
who had shot the men in the car
with him during a shared ride to
his home, court charging docu-
ments state.
Aaron Lanier Wilson Jr., 42, of
Oxon Hill told detectives he did
not remember what happened
because he was high on PCP,
according to documents made
public Thursday as Wilson made
his first court appearance for a
bail review.
He is charged with first- and
second-degree murder in the
killings of driver Beaudouin
Tc hakounte, 46, and passenger
Casey Xavier Robinson, 32.
A public defender for Wilson
argued that his client should be
allowed some sort of supervised
release because an eyewitness’s
account describing the man flee-
ing the silver Mercedes-Benz
where Tchakounte and Robinson
were later found dead doesn’t
match Wilson’s appearance.
Charging documents say a wit-
ness described a short man with
curly hair running from the
scene, but Wilson wears his hair
in long dreadlocks, his public
defender said.
Prosecutors argued that Wil-
son should remain jailed, saying
investigators have evidence link-ing him to the crime and that he
has in the past been convicted of
illegal possession of a firearm
and theft.
“He simply executed two peo-
ple unknown to him,” Assistant
State’s Attorney Sam Danai said
in court.
A Prince George’s County Dis-
trict Court judge ordered Wilson
held without bond pending his
trial, noting his previous weap-
ons conviction and the gravity of
the allegations.
Wilson had ordered a ride on
the Uber app Tuesday evening to
head to his home on Indian Head
Highway, Prince George’s County
police said in court filings. Rob-
inson was already a passenger in
the car that Tc hakounte was
driving when Wilson got picked
up, police said.
Within moments of joining
the ride, Wilson opened fire,killing Tc hakounte and Robin-
son about 9:45 p.m. near Indian
Head Highway and Bald Eagle
Road, police said.
Witnesses who called 911
heard and saw the shooting be-
fore seeing a man run from the
car, police said.
Authorities subpoenaed Uber
for information and the compa-
ny identified Robinson and an
“A aron W.” traveling in Tchak-
ounte’s vehicle, according to
charging documents. The phone
number for “A aron W.” was listed
to a woman who detectives later
learned was Wilson’s mother,
charging documents state.
When officers arrived the
morning after the deaths at the
home that Wilson and his moth-
er share, they spoke with her and
she told them that her son was in
the back bedroom sleeping,
charging documents state. Policetook Wilson into custody and he
admitted to being in the car the
night of the shootings, according
to the charging documents.
Charging documents in Tues-
day’s killing do not indicate any
signs of a robbery.
Wilson was sentenced to five
years in jail after pleading guilty
to a count of robbery in 1998,
according to Maryland online
court records. Wilson took an
Alford plea in the case, which
means he acknowledged pros-
ecutors had enough evidence to
convince a jury to convict him
but maintains his innocence.
Wilson also pleaded guilty,
also in an Alford plea, to reckless
endangerment t he same year i n a
separate case, the online records
show. Wilson was sentenced to
five years to be served concur-
rent with the robbery sentence,
according to the records.Wilson’s family could not be
reached for comment Thursday.
Robinson’s sister said her
brother was a caring man who
worked hard as a trash collector.
Tc hakounte was the father of
four children and “was j ust doing
his job,” when he was shot,
Prince George’s County police
spokeswoman Jennifer Donelan
said.
The mother of Tc hakounte’s
children said when they woke up
to look for t heir f ather’s c ar in the
driveway the morning after the
shooting, she did not have the
heart to tell them he was dead.
When she did muster the
strength to tell them the news,
she said, one asked to see their
father “one more time.”
[email protected]Justin Jouvenal contributed to this
report.MARYLAND
Man charged in double slaying said he was high on PCP
Suspect told police he
cannot recall shooting of
Uber driver, fellow riderTHE REGIONMd. says no to solar farm in sensitive woodlands
Georgetown University’s
plan to raze 210 acres of
trees angered activistsMARY F. CALVERT FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
Origis Energy executives James Morelli and Edwin Moses visit a site in Charles County in February where Georgetown University had
intended to build a solar energy project. Environmental activists opposed the plan, citing a threat to endangered birds and waterways.BY DAN MORSEA Maryland man allegedly
stabbed his wife t o death, kept her
body in their bedroom after his
teenage daughter returned home
from a church event, a nd e arly the
next morning disposed of the
corpse i n a dumpster, according to
arrest records filed Thursday in
Montgomery County District
Court.
Jean Jocelin Pierre, 4 6, of Mont-
gomery Village was ordered held
without bond Thursday on a sin-
gle c ount of first-degree murder i n
the d eath of Nerlande Foreste, 41.
“He admitted to the police that
he killed her and said that they
wouldn’t find her,” Assistant
State’s Attorney Gabriel Carrera
said during a brief court hearing.
Detectives allege that Pierre
tried to mask the killing over the
last week by renting a carpet
cleaning machine from a grocery
store to clean h is r ugs a nd b y going
to a police station to file a missing-
person r eport on his wife.
As police tried to find Foreste,
th ey found that Pierre’s explana-
tions about what may have hap-
pened were vague, and after
speaking with others, identified
him as a suspect, according to the
arrest records.
“This individual is a serious
danger to the community and his
family,” Carrera s aid in court.
It was unclear whether For-
este’s body has been found or if
investigators have any idea where
it might be.
According to the account that
police said Pierre gave them, he
put his wife’s body in a dumpster
on Aug. 2 2 and two days l ater f iled
the missing-person report. Four
days after that, detectives
searched his apartment and took
him i nto custody.
In c ourt T hursday, a l awyer rep-
resenting Pierre, Sean McKee, did
not address the allegations but
asked District Judge Amy Bills to
release Pierre on b ond, n oting that
the accusations involved family
members.
“He is n ot a danger — even if the
allegations are to be believed — to
other people in the community,”
McKee said.
This was Pierre’s first arrest, his
lawyer said. “He has no criminal
history, whatsoever,” McKee said.
He also told the court that Pierre
had a steady job at a local facility
that cares for people with demen-
tia.
According to court records, be-
fore her disappearance, Foreste
may have s ensed t hat she c ould b e
in danger.
On the morning of Aug. 21,
court records say, Foreste told a
cousin over the phone that Pierre
had said he was going to kill her.
The documents did not s pecify t he
alleged t hreat.
Police charging documents al-
lege that about 6:30 p.m. Aug. 21,
Pierre’s daughter saw Foreste in
their apartment on Rothbury
Lane in Montgomery Village. The
teen, who is Foreste’s stepdaugh-
ter, left t o go t o the church event.
On Aug. 2 3, when the g irl asked
her father where her stepmother
was, he said he didn’t know, ac-
cording to the affidavit. Pierre
then left for work, returning later
with a carpet cleaning machine.
After he finished cleaning rugs in
the m aster b edroom and common
areas, according to court docu-
ments, he asked his daughter to
take the machine back to the gro-
cery store the f ollowing day.
On Aug. 24, Pierre went to a
nearby police station to report his
wife missing, and o n the s ame day,
separately, the g irl did the same.
Pierre said he did not know
where his wife was, according to
detectives.
Investigators spoke to family
members, piecing together clues.
By Aug. 28, investigators had
obtained a warrant to search the
apartment and f ound “blood s pat-
ter i n multiple places in the m aster
bedroom and master bathroom,”
according to the a ffidavit.
Pierre agreed to accompany in-
vestigators to the police station.
“Several times during the inter-
view, Pierre stated his wife was
gone and she w asn’t c oming back,”
detectives wrote.
[email protected]MARYLAND
Body won’t be found,
suspect allegedly says
BY PETER HERMANNInvestigators trying to deter-
mine how last week’s fatal fire
started in a Northwest Washing-
ton rowhouse that officials de-
scribed as an illegal rooming
house a re focusing on an electron-
ic device and a power cord, ac-
cording to court documents.
An application for a search
warrant filed in D.C. Superior
Court says police and federal
agents took those two items from
the charred remains of the dwell-
ing at 708 Kennedy Street NW,
which officials said lacked ap-
proval for rental units and func-
tioning smoke detectors.
An electrician with the Bureau
of Alcohol, To bacco, Firearms a nd
Explosives is examining the items,
which a re not detailed in the court
documents, but authorities said a
cause of the Aug. 18 fire has not yet
been determined. Fitsum Kebede,
40, and Yafet Solomon, 9, a stu-
dent at Barnard Elementary
School, were killed in the fire.
Yafet lived at t he house w ith his
mother and was buried Wednes-
day. K ebede h as family in Ethiopia
and a sister in South Africa who
are applying for visas to visit theUnited States and make funeral
arrangements.
District officials said a multi-
pronged criminal investigation
led by federal prosecutors is un-
derway into the cause of the fire
and the conditions in which peo-
ple lived inside the house, which
was licensed as an online pharma-
cy. The officer who filed the search
warrant is assigned to the depart-
ment’s homicide unit and is on a
task force that investigates seri-
ous fires.
The owner of the rowhouse,
James G. Walker, has not respond-
ed to interview requests, includ-
ing Thursday.
Officials also are investigating
what they said are failures by the
city in responding to a police offi-cer’s March warning about nu-
merous “life-safety violations” he
noticed during a routine call to
the location in March.
Inspectors with the Depart-
ment of Consumer and Regulato-
ry Affairs and the Fire and Emer-
gency Medical Services failed to
appropriately act on the warn-
ings, officials said.
Te nants — Ethiopian immi-
grants — have said the first and
second floors and basement were
partitioned into a dozen rooms,
some no larger than a queen-size
mattress, with communal kitch-
ens and bathrooms. Renters said
they paid between $300 and $650
month.
Officials have described a maze
of corridors, and police wrote inthe search warrant that some ar-
eas were built with 2x4 lumber
and drywall that were “not consis-
tent with proper living quarters,
safety guidelines or building
codes.”
Police and the fire chief previ-
ously have described how an offi-
cer first noticed the fire and tried
to get into the house but was
stymied by metal bars on the front
door. Two officers and bystanders
got the bars off but were forced
back by smoke. One woman es-
caped from the top floor by f ollow-
ing the officer’s voice.
The search warrant says fire-
fighters who went inside encoun-
tered a second solid-wood d oor 10
feet into the interior. They forced
that open and then found a lockedmetal gate that also had to be
broken down. Firefighters found
the man and child unconscious in
the basement, where authorities
believe the fire began.
The officer who was inside the
house in March wrote in a report
that he noticed “make shift doors
with locks which would make it
difficult to exit in an emergency.”
Several officials who are familiar
with the body-camera video from
that officer d escribed the layout as
complex and confusing.
In the search warrant applica-
tion, the detective told the judge
investigators planned to “create a
sketch, take additional photo-
graphs and determine occupancy
of each of the rented ‘bedrooms.’ ”
[email protected]THE DISTRICT
Investigators examine power cord, electronic device in fatal rowhouse fire
Blaze in Northwest killed
2 at structure described
as illegal rooming houseMontgomery Village man
is charged with murder
after wife disappearsS0115-6x1.25washington post .com/recipesSearch our database of tested recipes by ingredient or name.Explore new cuisines