The masked man who tracked down and fatally shot his ex-girlfriend in the head during a harrowing caught-on-camera attack in Queens has been captured in South Carolina and may soon be returned to the borough to face justice, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said on Saturday.
De’Ovryion Elijha Ray, 23, was apprehended in Laurens County, S.C. on Oct. 8, about three weeks after he gunned down 21-year-old Dashanna Donovan on Sept. 12.
Donovan was so desperate to escape her killer that she ran out of her own shoes, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters after the killing.
She immediately recognized the gunman and scrambled in vain to find shelter in the basement of her building on 96th St. near Astoria Blvd. in East Elmhurst before she was shot in the head and upper body, cops said.
Queens prosecutors this week traveled to South Carolina to file extradition papers so that Ray can be brought back to New York and charged. If convicted, he’s facing 25 years behind bars.
“My office secured the indictment of the defendant for the murder of Dashanna Donovan,” Katz said in a statement. “We allege that the defendant shot her in the head and then fled the state in an attempt to avoid accountability.”
At a criminal hearing in South Carolina, Ray was told of the indictment and that he’s been charged with murder and weapons possession charges. He was remanded to custody and the NYPD has been given 30 days to bring him back to New York.
Ray, who lives in Simpsonville, S.C., has been fighting extradition ever since cops nabbed him in October, officials said.
NYPD detectives zeroed in on Ray early on, knowing that Donovan had fled South Carolina six months earlier to escape an abusive boyfriend. The couple had worked together at a Walmart and had previously been arrested during one domestic spat, Kenny said.
Donovan was living with her grandmother, trying to rebuild her life, when Ray had tracked her down to New York, officials said.
Ray was caught on surveillance cameras charging at Donovan, as well as wandering around the Queens neighborhood more than two hours before the Sept. 12 shooting, apparently looking for her.
“It appears he may have known she was (in the neighborhood),” Kenny said about the shooter.
The victim had just finished her shift at a nearby McDonald’s around 9:20 p.m. and was relaxing right outside her home when the gunman surprised her and chased her inside. She was found in a pool of her own blood in a basement hallway.
“He had a motive,” Donovan’s mother, Helena Hypolite, told the Daily News after the shooting. “He knew why. He knew what he was doing.”
The shooter was wearing a unique Under Armour blue hoodie, Kenny said. Using recovered surveillance footage, his detectives backtracked the shooter’s movements on both a bus and a train back to lower Manhattan, where he was recorded not paying his fare at the Canal St. subway station.
Cops released surveillance footage of the shooter on Sept. 16 as well as additional footage of the suspect with his mask down.
“Dashanna was truly special and unique to me because of her unwavering kindness, genuine compassion and positive attitude,” Hypolite said. “She consistently went above and beyond to support those around her, bringing warmth and comfort that made everyone feel valued. Her resilience and dedication during difficult times inspired me, and her infectious smile could brighten any room.”
