Inset left: Gregory Keyier-Deniro Davis (Oakland County Jail). Inset right: Annie Salem Namou Somo (Obituary). Background: The car dealership where Davis shot and killed Namou in Ferndale, Mich. (Google Maps).
A Michigan man has been sentenced to life in prison for the horrific act of trapping and murdering his ex-girlfriend in front of their child.
In April, the jury in Oakland County found Gregory Keyier-Deniro Davis, age 46, guilty on all eight charges against him. These charges included first-degree premeditated murder, assault with intent to murder, illegal possession of a firearm, and felonious assault. Additionally, he was convicted of four counts of felony firearm as a second offense related to the death of 40-year-old Annie Salem Namou Somo.
On Monday, Judge Kwame Rowe of the Oakland County Circuit Court handed down a life sentence without parole for the murder of Namou, a mandatory punishment in Michigan. Davis also received several additional prison sentences for the other offenses.
Michigan is notable for its lack of a death penalty, being one of only three U.S. jurisdictions that have never carried out an execution.
The tragic event took place on May 20, 2023, at Legend Motors, a car dealership located on Eight Mile Road in Ferndale, a small suburb near Detroit, where the victim was employed.
On the day in question, Namou brought her then-10-year-old daughter to work — and the girl saw all the horrific violence unfold.
Around 8:40 a.m. that Saturday, the defendant followed his ex-girlfriend into the parking lot and used his vehicle to pin her vehicle and keep her from getting away. The woman eventually managed to get out of her car and tried to flee for help, but Davis shot her with a 12-gauge semiautomatic shotgun as she ran.
Then the killer approached his victim and fired again. The second shot was fired at close range, jurors heard during the trial.
The scene unfolded as the couple’s daughter watched from the passenger seat of her mother’s vehicle, prosecutors repeatedly told the jury, according to a courtroom report by New Media Detroit.
Then, the defendant fired multiple shots at onlookers in the parking lot. Davis is also said to have stolen the gun he used in the crime.
The defendant surrendered to police later that same day.
In comments to the online news outlet, a family member asked for it to be reported that Namou was “an incredible woman and mother.”
“I thank the jury for delivering justice for Annie Namou and her loved ones,” Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said last month. “Children and women, like Annie, are too often endangered by intimate partners, and it is unacceptable. We will never forget her and never stop fighting for victims of intimate partner violence.”