D.C. MUST ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR JAWAID BHUTTO'S DEATH

The District of Columbia must accept results of its own internal investigation which show that its repeated failures to monitor a mentally ill killer, released under its supervision, claimed the life of our beloved Jawaid Bhutto (seen in photo).

Mr. Bhutto, a Philosophy professor, was killed by his downstairs neighbor in the parking lot of the City View apartment complex in Anacostia on March 1, 2019. The District had resettled the killer- Hilman Jordan, a former mental patient of St Elizabeth Hospital - in a rented apartment below Mr. Bhutto’s condo without letting neighbors know he had without provocation killed his cousin in1998.

In Nov. 2019, DC Council held a Public Oversight Hearing and reviewed its six-month investigation into Mr. Bhutto’s murder. At the hearing, DC Department of Behavioral Health’s new chairperson, Dr. Barbara Bazron admitted to serial failures by her department to notify the Superior Court that Jordan repeatedly took drugs, which were known to worsen his delusions and trigger violent behavior.

Earlier the court had found Jordan, “Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity” for killing his cousin and mandated his return to St. Elizabeth if he ever used drugs. Former DC Mayor Vincent Gray quizzed the DBH head, as reported in Washington City Paper:

“Mr. Bhutto would still be alive if this order had been obeyed,” said Gray, looking to Bazron for a reaction. As she searched for the words to respond, Bazron let out a quiet yes and shrugged. Read full report:  https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/323447/mental-health-agency-director-finally-answers-to-the-public-for-water-crisis-at-st-elizabeths-hospital/

Despite clear evidence and admission of “egregious mistakes” by DC’s Deputy Mayor Health and Human Services Wayne Turnage, the District’s public summary of a 2019 report that it would be “unduly speculative” to draw a “causal nexus” between its actions and Bhutto’s death smacks of a foul cover-up.

DC must accept it was responsible for Mr. Bhutto’s murder. Its actions have inflicted untold pain and grief on Jawaid’s family, friends, students and legion of supporters – inspired by his lectures on Philosophy, History & Sufism.  The District’s refusal to accept it is guilty of our huge loss, does little to restore public trust.

Jawaid Bhutto’s tragedy must pave the way for expanding Meghan’s Law to publicize a data base of released killers previously deemed `Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity.’

We urge the DC City Council to enact legislation to inform the community when a killer who has pleaded insanity and is deemed an NGRI by the court, is moved into the neighborhood. 

Please sign if you support access to public information on whether your neighbor is an unstable killer, so that no one risks being ambushed and killed because of state incompetence.