FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, November 4, 2022
Brooklyn Couple Indicted for Fatal Shooting of TSA Worker
Defendants Allegedly Tailed Victim in Vehicle Before Killing Him in East Flatbush
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a Brooklyn couple has been arraigned on an indictment in which they are charged with murder in connection with the fatal shooting of a longtime Transportation Security Administration worker. The 45-year-old victim was shot twice from behind near East 35th Street and Church Avenue in East Flatbush.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This was a cold-blooded killing that took the life of an innocent man. We will never tolerate such acts of violence in Brooklyn and will now work to bring these two defendants to justice.”
The District Attorney identified the defendants as Richard Barrett, 34, and Irene Brown, 32, of East Flatbush, Brooklyn. Barrett was arraigned today before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Vincent Del Giudice on an indictment in which he and Brown are charged with second-degree murder and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Barrett is being held without bail. Brown was arraigned on October 25, 2022 before Justice Del Giudice. She was ordered held without bail. Both defendants were ordered to return to court on January 11, 2023. They each face a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison if convicted of the top count.
The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, on May 29, 2022, at approximately 12:20 a.m., Barret allegedly approached the victim, Donovan Davy, from behind near 3423 Church Avenue. Barrett then allegedly fired several shots from a .380-caliber semi-automatic handgun, striking the victim in the back of the neck and right leg. Davy was taken to Kings County Hospital where he was pronounced dead. The victim was a longtime TSA employee who worked at John F. Kennedy Airport for nearly 20 years.
Furthermore, according to the investigation, Barrett then allegedly fled the location in a 2010 Nissan Maxima driven by Brown. Video surveillance footage obtained by the New York City Police Department allegedly shows the Nissan Maxima drop off Barrett before the shooting and pick him up afterward. Cellular telephone data also allegedly tie both Barrett and Brown to the vehicle, which surveillance shows tailing an unsuspecting Davy as he travelled through Central Brooklyn on foot and by bus.
Furthermore, according to the investigation, the Nissan is registered to Brown, who allegedly changed the vehicle’s license plate on June 6, 2022, about a week after the murder. Both defendants were arrested on September 1, 2022 and apprehended in the same 2010 Nissan Maxima.
The case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Robert Schwartz of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, Senior Assistant District Attorney Han Zhang of the District Attorney’s Blue Zone Trial Bureau, and Assistant District Attorney Reema Moosa of the District Attorney’s Law Enforcement Assistance Unit, under the supervision of Leila Rosini, Chief of the Homicide Bureau.
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An indictment is merely an accusation and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.