On a spring morning in Boston, the life of Donell Davis, a 24-year-old Black/African American man, was tragically cut short. On May 8, 2019, just after 10 a.m., Boston police responded to reports of a person shot on Milton Avenue in the Dorchester neighborhood. Inside a home, officers discovered Davis suffering from gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The initial investigation into the death of Donell Davis was active, but for a time, no suspects or arrests were publicly
announced. The case was treated as a homicide as authorities worked to piece together the events that led to the fatal shooting. Friends and family mourned the sudden loss of Davis, remembering him through online tributes and a funeral service held on May 16, 2019, at the Bethel Baptist Church in Boston, followed by a burial at Fairview Cemetery in Hyde Park.
Nearly a year after the shooting, a break in the case came when Boston police made an arrest. In March 2020, Ricard Washington, a 25-year-old from Boston, was apprehended in Atlanta, Georgia. He was taken into custody in connection with the shooting death of Donell Davis and was subsequently returned to Boston to face legal proceedings. Washington was expected to be arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court following his arrest.
