Colter did not have a permanent home and lived in the square, according to Rachelle Ellison, an advocate for the unhoused and assistant director of the People for Fairness Coalition, an advocacy group. She told a reporter last year that he was found dead on a bench in the square, on 15th Street between I and K streets. Ellison described Colter as a “big teddy bear” and a man who contended with issues of substance abuse and mental health but caused no harm to anyone. Police said Johnson was charged with first-degree murder while armed.