In the winter of 2022, Behnam Rasho, a 64-year-old Chaldean man, was working at Andy's Market, a liquor store on James Couzens Freeway in Detroit. A former U.S. Army contractor and a man who had run several convenience stores across the city, he was a beloved figure to his family. His life was abruptly and violently cut short on the evening of January 17th.
That night, a man named Dvante Antioni Howard, then 23 years old, entered the market with the intent to rob it.
Howard approached the counter to buy a bottle of liquor. When Behnam Rasho opened a door to leave the area behind the register, Howard fired a gun, fatally wounding him. After shooting Rasho, Howard turned his weapon on another man in the store, demanding that he open the cash registers. Howard then fled the scene with two cash register drawers. When police arrived, they found Rasho with multiple gunshot wounds, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The investigation into Behnam Rasho's murder led Detroit Police to Dvante Antioni Howard, who was also a suspect in a separate armed robbery that had occurred on December 31, 2021. Following a tip from the public, Howard was arrested. On January 27, 2022, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office charged Howard with one count of felony murder, two counts of armed robbery, one count of assault with intent to murder, and four counts of felony firearm in connection with the incident at Andy's Market.
Dvante Antioni Howard's case went to trial, and on July 24, 2023, a jury found him guilty of felony murder, two counts of armed robbery, and three counts of felony firearm. On August 7, 2023, Howard was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of Behnam Rasho. He also received sentences of 25 to 50 years for the armed robbery charges and a consecutive two-year sentence for the felony firearm convictions. Howard still faced charges for the armed robbery that took place on New Year's Eve of 2021.
