Maurice Williams was just 24 years old, working as a news reporter for Howard University’s WHUR-FM radio, when he was shot to death during a 1977 takeover of a city government building by a dozen Hanafi Muslims.

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       A judge later sentenced his shooter, Abdul Muzikir, to more than seven decades behind bars, telling him the punishment meant “you will die in jail.”

       But in April, Muzikir, now 67, was ordered released from prison, as part of an effort to let out inmates who have served at least 20 years in prison, are determined not to be a danger to society and might be particularly susceptible to the pandemic because of their age or health conditions.

       Muzikir’s release — which came over the objection of a federal prosecutor — evoked memories of a dark chapter in D.C. history, when a dozen Hanafi Muslims violently stormed government property and took hostages. They were hoping, authorities have said, to force officials to turn over five people convicted of murdering seven family members of Hamaas Abdul Khaalis, the leader of the plot.

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       Williams became one of the few working journalists killed in the nation’s capital. The late Marion Barry — then a council member who would go on to become mayor — was also shot and wounded.

       In court papers and interviews, some of the victims’ family members said they were at peace with Muzikir’s release — if he truly was no longer a threat.

       “He served his time, why not let him live the rest of his life free,” said Williams’s brother, Myron Williams, in a recent interview with The Washington Post. “He accomplished a lot while he was in prison. It’s time.”

       Muzikir, who court records say is now residing with his family in Silver Spring, Md., declined to comment through his attorney, Jon Anderson with the District’s Public Defender Service.

       In all, 149 hostages were held captive in three downtown buildings between March 9 through March 11. In addition to the downtown District building where Williams was killed, the gunmen held hostages at gunpoint at the headquarters of B’nai B’rith, then located in the 1600 block of Rhode Island Ave. NW and the Islamic Center, in the 2500 block of Massachusetts Avenue NW.

       Myron Williams said he believed Muzikir, also known as Marquette Anthony Hall, and the other co-defendants were “brainwashed” by Khaalis. “He was only 22 at the time, and it was a different time in our country then,” he said.

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       Barry’s widow, Cora Masters Barry, wrote in a letter to the judge that she, too, did not oppose Muzikir’s release. “I hope with the years that he has left, they will be fruitful. That’s all,” she said in a brief interview with The Washington Post.

       Since the pandemic began in 2020, D.C. Superior Court judges have granted 203 people compassionate release, according to court data. Another 182 had petitions pending as of May 31, while 547 had their petitions denied, according to the data. A majority of the petitions cited concerns over covid-19.

       A majority of Muzikir’s co-defendants were sentenced to decades in prison, which were effectively life sentences. Muzikir was sentenced to 77 years to life in prison, according to prosecutors. All of the co-defendants have either died in prison or have been released, Muzikir’s attorney wrote.

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       Assistant U.S. Attorney Pamela S. Satterfield opposed Muzikir’s release. In a 17-page petition to Judge Peter A. Krauthamer, she argued that Muzikir’s petition should be denied because, she wrote, he did not show any remorse for his involvement in the takeover, nor for killing Williams.

       Satterfield noted Muzikir was the “only hostage-taker” who fired his weapon, shooting Williams in his chest at close range and injuring three other hostages. “The gravity of his crimes is serious and the consequences of potential re-offense is great,” Satterfield wrote.

       In her filing to the judge, Satterfield wrote that two family members of Muzikir’s victims opposed his release — though one of them told The Post he did not.

       Satterfield included in her filing a quote from Stephen Pierce, the son of Robert Pierce, who was a law intern in the District building when Muzikir shot him in his back. Robert Pierce was paralyzed in his legs and one side of his body; his son said he died about 25 years after the attack.

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       “A violent offender who does not express remorse for his crimes, much less offer a sincere apology to his victims, seems like a poor candidate for early release,” Stephen Pierce wrote, according to the prosecutor’s filing.

       But in an interview, Pierce said despite those concerns, he did not object to Muzikir’s release.

       Satterfield, in an email, said she interpreted Pierce’s words as an objection.

       Satterfield also wrote that the stepdaughter of another person who was shot — Mack Wesley Cantrell, who was working as a guard in the District building — emphatically opposed Muzikir’s release. Cantrell was shot in the face and later died of a heart attack. His stepdaughter, Satterfield wrote, said Muzikir “took a life of a good man who never go to know his grandchildren and niece and nephews.”

       “He was protecting people at the District building. An (sic) you went there and shot him,” the stepdaughter wrote, according to Satterfield’s court filing, which did not name the woman. “He needs to stay in jail where other people will be safe from him.”

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       Muzikir’s public defender encouraged the judge to base his ruling on Muzikir’s nearly spotless prison record. The attorney wrote Muzikir had only incurred one disciplinary infraction during his 44 years of incarceration, and that was for a nonviolent offense: failing to take down a clothesline hanging in his cell after he had been ordered to do so. Muzikir also earned his associate’s degree and learned graphic arts in the prison’s print shop, his attorney wrote.

       In his ruling, Krauthamer wrote that whether Muzikir was remorseful had “no bearing on his current or future dangerousness,” and that nowhere in the District’s compassionate release statute was expressing remorse a stipulation.

       Krauthamer wrote that Muzikir would “not pose a danger” when let out and granted his release.

       Razzan Nakhlawi contributed to this report.