A Southeast D.C. man has been charged with first-degree murder after allegedly shooting and killing a man while on supervised release for drug charges, court documents say.
D.C. police say officers found Davon Sullivan, 24, shot and killed in the 2300 block of Green Street SE at about 3:30 p.m. on May 4. An autopsy found 13 gunshot wounds in Sullivan’s torso.
Raheem Gafari, 31, was arrested Tuesday while appearing in D.C. Superior Court for allegedly violating his release conditions on drug charges. Authorities say he tried to flee the courtroom twice after learning of the murder charge.
Gafari had been wearing an electronic GPS monitoring device and was on “high-intensity supervision” during the time of Sullivan’s death, court documents say. He’d been arrested on April 27 after officers found him with dozens of pills, according to police.
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Charging documents show that the tracking device was in a sleep mode function for four hours on the afternoon of Sullivan’s killing.
Homicide detectives say a security camera near the May 4 shooting scene captured Gafari confronting Sullivan outside of an apartment building.
A witness, Treyvon Green, appeared to try to deescalate the confrontation, police said.
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Shortly after, Gafari pulled out a handgun and fired multiple shots at Sullivan, police say. Sullivan was pronounced dead at the scene.
The electronic monitoring device pinged two minutes after the shooting and indicated that Gafari was blocks away from the scene, according to the documents.
Less than 18 hours later, Green was also found shot and killed inside of an apartment building across the street from the previous day’s shooting scene, police said. He was 33.
No arrests have been made in Green’s killing. Homicide detectives confirmed Friday the case remains “under active investigation.”
Gafari, Sullivan and Green were all named persons of interest in a pair of armored truck robberies at the same Southeast D.C. bank on Oct. 6, 2021, and March 2, the court documents reveal.
Suspect Tried to Flee Court Twice
Gafari and his attorney were informed of the murder charges on May 16, while he appeared in court for allegedly violating release conditions on drug charges.
Gafari then bolted from his chair to the courtroom doors. A deputy U.S. Marshal stopped him, documents say.
Moments later, after being asked to stand to be handcuffed, Gafari ran from the courtroom. He made it into a hallway before court officers stopped him, documents say.
In an interview with detectives following his arrest, Gafari allegedly admitted to shooting Sullivan and claimed self-defense.
He claimed the two were in an ongoing fight over a game of dice and a dispute over relationships with women.
Gafari was ordered held without bond on the first-degree murder charge and is set to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on June 28.
Sellano Simmons, the attorney representing Gafari, said his client had no comment on the first-degree murder charge and any connection to the armored truck robberies.
News4 was not able to reach family members of Sullivan and Green for comment.
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