By Delphine Schrank and Lori Aratani
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, November 19, 2007

Shortly after Timothy Spicer left his job at Ben's Chili Bowl on Saturday evening, he talked with a friend on the phone. Spicer and Jermaine Jefferson made plans to meet this week at a recording studio to fine-tune Spicer's rap music.

A few hours later, police told Spicer's family, the 25-year-old short-order cook staggered toward the Anacostia Metro station and collapsed. He had been shot multiple times and told police before he died that his beloved 1994 Chevrolet Caprice had been carjacked.

The 169th person killed in the District this year was a jokester whom friends knew as "the comedian," who had two passions -- girls and cars -- and who dreamed of making it big with the rap lyrics he wrote or the T-shirts and sweat shirts he designed, doodling in his bedroom in his mother's home in Southeast Washington.

Yesterday, detectives were trying to splice together exactly what happened between 7 p.m. Saturday, when Spicer left work, and about 9:15 p.m., when he was found at the Metro station. Spicer, of the 1700 block of Q Street SE, was pronounced dead at 11:50 p.m. at Howard University Hospital, according to police spokesman Josue Aldiva. The car that he had lavished so much attention on was found in the 1400 block of Bruce Place SE.

Friends, neighbors and relatives expressed shock yesterday that the man who was always smiling and ready to chat, who planned to launch his own clothing line, was dead.

When neighbor Linda Shaw, 53, recently locked herself out of the building in the cold, Spicer ran downstairs in his underwear to let her in, she recalled.

Jefferson, a cook at Ben's Chili Bowl, said: "I just loved him. He wouldn't have harmed a flea." The pair flipped burgers at the iconic District eatery, where Spicer had started working at age 16 as a busboy.

"We're kind of working in slow motion today," said Jefferson, 31. The staff plans to make a T-shirt featuring Spicer's name and photo, he said, a tribute to Spicer's clothing design aspirations.

Spicer had other ambitions, too. Jefferson said he phoned Spicer on Saturday to discuss meeting at a recording studio today, their day off. Spicer wanted to work on his rap music; he had uploaded some of it on YouTube.

"I said, 'See you tomorrow.' And that was the last time we talked," Jefferson said.

Spicer's dreams were evident in his room in his mother's apartment in Southeast Washington.

The bed lay disheveled from his last night there. The drawers are crammed with notebooks and dog-eared papers covered with rap lyrics written in small, neatly slanted penmanship. A pile of papers bear pencil sketches of T-shirts, jackets and sweat shirts. Many have a cartoon face, his trademark, according to his 16-year-old brother, Hakim.

"He had so many dreams," said Spicer's mother, Ruby Nweke, smiling at the memory. Spicer dropped out of high school in 11th grade, she said. But he completed his GED and had applied for a student loan to attend Howard University. He also found several people willing to invest in his clothing line, she added.

Hakim Spicer recalled his older brother's gestures of generosity. Spicer tried to help a homeless man, giving him $5 or $10 to wash Spicer's cherished black Caprice, he said.

The Metro station where Spicer was found is one stop away from the Congress Heights Metro station, where on Nov. 2 a woman was approached by two men who forced her at gunpoint into her car. She later told police they sexually assaulted her and then drove her to ATMs to withdraw money. They eventually left her at the Southern Avenue Metro station and sped away in her car. Two suspects have been arrested.

Cathy Asato of Metro said there were patrols at the station where Spicer was found. She said that Metro officers will continue regular patrols of stations but that no changes are planned.

Police are seeking witnesses who were near the Anacostia station about 9 p.m. People with information can call 202-727-9099.

Staff researcher Rena Kirsch contributed to this report.