Man charged in fatal shooting of Baltimore rapper 'President Davo'
BALTIMORE -- A 27-year-old man has been charged in connection with the fatal shooting last month of a prominent Baltimore rapper, police said Monday.
Earl Lee was arrested in East Baltimore by Auto Theft Taskforce officers on November 8, police said. He has been charged with first-degree murder and multiple gun offenses.
David Boykin, the rapper known as "President Davo," was shot and killed in Baltimore's South Clifton Park neighborhood on October 6, police said.
The 28-year-old was found in the 2000 block of Cliftwood Avenue suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to an area hospital, where he died.
According to charging documents, Boykin was shot while sitting on a porch on Cliftwood Avenue by an assailant who came from a nearby alleyway. Investigators tied a getaway car seen on surveillance footage to Lee, as it was registered to him.
After getting a "good image" from Ring camera video in the neighborhood where the murder happened, police said they tracked the vehicle through the city using license plate readers and cameras.
Lee was on probation, and his next appointment was scheduled for Nov. 8, which is when police chose to arrest him, according to charging documents.
He drove to that appointment at the Department of Parole and Probation in East Baltimore and parked his vehicle outside on Ellwood Avenue.
Police said Lee had a 9mm handgun under the driver's seat with a bullet loaded in the chamber.
He was also driving on a suspended license.
Police said Lee was not allowed to possess a weapon after an assault conviction just nine months ago.
Authorities took him into custody without incident and said he waived his Miranda rights and confessed to the killing.
"To be driving his own car and reporting to probation knowing what he did, that's gutsy. Real gutsy," a neighbor near the murder scene told WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren. "Nobody deserves to die. That man didn't deserve to be judge and jury. …I guess the streets are safer with him gone, but it still don't bring President Davo back."
The suspect allegedly fully confessed to shooting Boykin and admitted to owning a loaded gun found in his car.
Fans took to social media to express their sadness after the news of Boykin's death broke, commenting on his Instagram, and mourning the rapper on TikTok.
Boykin currently has 33,105 monthly listeners on Spotify, and released 11 albums since 2017.
In Sept. 2014, the artist posted a music video to YouTube for the remix 'I Don't Wanna Be a Playa', which has garnered more than 7.1 million views.
"He was a city hero, for real," Boykin's friend and fellow artist, StarrZ, told WJZ. "I'd tell him how great he was and how no one was really on his level, how he was the most talented person in Baltimore."