DC Man Sentenced After Admitting To Assaulting Ex-Girlfriend, Setting Multiple Fires

WASHINGTON, DC — A District man who pleaded guilty in February to assaulting his ex-girlfriend and setting fire to her family's residence in Southeast was sentenced to four years in prison on Friday, according to a release.

Kevin Cooke, 22, pleaded guilty on Feb. 22, to charges of arson, attempted assault with a dangerous weapon, stalking, and simple assault, in connection with a series of incidents that occurred last year, according to court documents.

Cooke began to stalk and harass his ex-girlfriend and her family after the couple broke up in March 2021, authorities say. During that time, Cooke was accused of setting fire to the victims' apartment building in the 300 block of Anacostia Road, Southeast on multiple occasions and harassed residents of the building.

Even though the victim and the apartment building succeeded in having a court-issued stay-away and no-contact order filed against Cooke, he threw lighted items through the victims' windows around 2 a.m., on Aug. 30, 2021 and fired 16 rounds at the victims' building 2 1/2 hours later, according to court documents. No one was injured.

By hacking into a friend of his ex-girlfriend's Instagram account, Cooke tricked her into meeting him at her college residence, on Sept. 12, 2021, authorities say. After drawing her to the laundry room, Cooke struck her her multiple times in the face, then fled when police arrived, according to court documents.

Police arrested Cooke on Oct. 4, two days after a surveillance video caught him using a gas can accelerant to set fire to the exterior of his ex-girlfriend's apartment building, according to authorities.

Once Cooke completes his four-year sentence, he will be placed on three years of supervised leave.