Two men convicted of first-degree murder in 2020 killing of Philadelphia teen rapper
Aamir Johnson-Daye, known as the rapper D4M Skiano, was killed in 2020.
Six years after an up-and-coming teenage rapper was shot to death outside a West Philadelphia home, two of his killers have been convicted and sentenced, prosecutors said.
Donovan Williams, 24, was found guilty last week of first-degree murder in the killing of Aamir Johnson-Daye, known as D4M Skiano, and of the attempted murder of a man who was with him, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday.
A judge on Friday sentenced Williams to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 46 to 92 years, court records show.
Williams’ codefendant, Bahij Dini, 28, pleaded guilty earlier this month to third-degree murder, conspiracy, and firearms offenses, and was sentenced to 13½ to 42 years, prosecutors said.
But the two convictions have not closed the case. Prosecutors said that three gunmen climbed from a car on July 5, 2020, and opened fire on the family’s home, but that the third shooter has not yet been identified. Nor was a possible fourth participant, they said, who may have stayed in the vehicle.
“We don’t have all the answers here,” District Attorney Larry Krasner said, appealing for the public’s help.
Johnson-Daye’s parents stood with prosecutors at the news conference, just days before what would have been their son’s 25th birthday, they said.
His mother, Latoya, thanked investigators, saying: “This is a perfect happy birthday for him.”
But she also pressed the public for information on the people being sought who have not yet been identified. “Please just come forward,” she said. “We’re still not done yet.”
One night, two killings
Johnson-Daye was part of a West Philadelphia rap collective whose videos drew hundreds of thousands of views online. His songs were also played on the radio.
Prosecutors said it was possible that his killing on the 1400 block of North 61st Street grew out of an earlier death the same night. A 15-year-old football player, Angelo Walker, was fatally shot nearby on Nassau Road, said Assistant District Attorney Jeff Hojnowski, who helps lead the office’s homicide unit and prosecuted the case against Williams and Dini.
Walker was affiliated with Williams and Dini, and word of his death spread quickly, Hojnowski said. He said a long-running feud between two neighborhood groups — one Williams belonged to and a rival that Johnson-Daye rapped with — may have also played a role in the fatal shootings.
About two hours after Walker was killed, he said, Williams, Dini, and a third gunman drove to the North 61st Street house. Johnson-Daye was on the front porch with another man when the gunmen approached and opened fire, killing him, Hojnowski said. No one else at the home was hit, he said.
Detectives recovered 14 spent casings, Hojnowski said, and determined three guns were used — one for each shooter.
The case against Williams and Dini was built almost entirely from surveillance video, cell phone location data, and digital records rather than eyewitnesses, Hojnowski said. Cameras captured a tinted Buick registered to Williams parking on the block with its lights off, then three figures walking toward the porch and the flashes of discharged bullets.
Prosecutors said the gunman they identified as Williams fired with his left hand — Williams is left-handed — and wore clothing later recovered from his home and car. Cell phone records placed him and Dini at the scene, and tracked them afterward to a hotel near Philadelphia International Airport.
Williams’ attorney did not immediately return a phone call Tuesday.
Dini had initially been charged with first-degree murder. Coley Reynolds, Dini’s attorney, called the plea to third-degree murder “an extremely competitive offer that resolved the case without looking at a possible life sentence.” Cooperation with the ongoing investigation, Reynolds said, was not part of Dini’s deal with prosecutors.
‘We can get these things done’
Johnson-Daye’s 2020 killing came in a year of increasing violence in the city. The conviction of his killers, Krasner said, comes during one where homicides are down about 18% from last year — when such killings reached a decades-long low.
“We can get these things done,” he said. “But we can’t do anything without the support of the public.”
Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Philadelphia police tip line at 215-686-TIPS (8477).