In the summer of 2021, a burst of gunfire in a Northeast Washington, D.C. alley cut short the life of Theodore Dewayne Riley Jr. A Black male, he was 41 years old at the time of his death. On the evening of July 19th, around 7:42 p.m., police responded to reports of gunshots in the 1600 block of Gales Street, Northeast. Arriving at the scene, which was in the Kingman Park area near the Rosedale Recreation Center, officers discovered Riley in an alley, suffering from a gunshot wound.
Emergency medical services were unable to save him, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The investigation into Riley's death led police to identify a suspect. Surveillance footage from that evening showed a man, later identified as Eric Davis, walking with Riley into the alley. Once they were in the alley, Davis shot Riley once in the head. Davis was then seen on camera quickly leaving the alley, attempting to alter his appearance by putting on a long-sleeved shirt over the short-sleeved one he had been wearing. Investigators found a single. 45 caliber casing at Riley's feet.
Just over two months after the shooting, on September 22, 2021, members of the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force located and arrested 58-year-old Eric Davis of Northeast, D.C. He was charged with First Degree Murder while Armed under a D.C. Superior Court arrest warrant. In May 2024, a jury found Davis guilty of first-degree murder while armed and possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. Subsequently, in August 2024, Eric Davis, then 61, was sentenced to 60 years in prison for the murder of Theodore Riley.
