The lead detective in a murder trial testified about a defendant’s clothing and phone records before DC Superior Court Judge Michael Ryan on Aug. 12.
Jajuan Gripper, 22, is charged with conspiracy, first-degree murder while armed, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, and carrying a pistol without a license outside a home or business for his alleged involvement in the death of 34-year-old Rynell Bradford. The incident occurred on the 1500 block of Anacostia Avenue, NE on Dec. 20, 2022.
The lead Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) detective presented surveillance footage that allegedly showed Gripper and other suspects leaving an apartment building on Quarles Street, NE, holding firearms shortly after Bradford left. The building is near Anacostia Avenue, where Bradford was ultimately shot.
More footage showed the suspects in an alley across from Quarles Street after the shooting occurred, getting in a car. The detective said that footage from several crime cameras in the area was used to track the car after it left the alley.
According to the detective, the car, an older model Lexus sedan, has been connected to Gripper and was towed for evidence at the beginning of the case but no significant evidence was recovered from the car.
Footage also shows a man in a Moose Knuckle jacket–a distinctive, higher end sportwear brand– leaving the apartment building on Quarles Street, which the prosecution argued is an identifier for Gripper.
The detective testified that he went to Gripper’s apartment in early January, more than two weeks after the incident, and questioned him about the shooting, informing him that his car was towed. Gripper told the detective that he did not know anyone from the area where the murder occurred, but that he had previously lived in another nearby neighborhood.
According to the detective, he directed a search warrant of Gripper’s apartment due to the video evidence and car connection and seized his phone at the scene. After getting an additional warrant to search the phone, the detective said he reviewed cell site data from Gripper’s phone.
The detective further testified that it took “a significant amount of time” to gain complete access to Gripper’s phone.
He said that Instagram messages between Gripper and another person from the night of the murder show Gripper attempting to call this person, saying there was an emergency. According to the detective, Gripper then requested to call the person over an app called TextNow and asked if that app records calls.
According to the records shown during the detective’s testimony, Gripper contacted another person in the early morning after the shooting, asking to swap his Moose Knuckle jacket for their Canada Goose jacket.
The prosecution also showed the jury the search history from Gripper’s phone. The detective said the phone records show Gripper searched “unsolved homicides” several times and viewed a MPD webpage with a list of major cases and unsolved homicides in the days following the shooting.
During the cross examination, defense attorney Wole Falodun probed the detective about his knowledge of what happened between Gripper’s leaving the building on Quarles Street and arriving at another building on Anacostia Avenue. The detective testified that he only knows what witnesses reported and what could be seen on surveillance footage.
The medical examiner who performed Bradford’s autopsy also testified that Bradford’s death was a homicide from one gunshot to the back of the head and he also sustained several injuries as he fell after being shot.
Falodun confirmed with the medical examiner further that she cannot determine from how far away the shot was fired or what position Bradford may have been in when shot.
With the jury dismissed, Falodun motioned for acquittal of the premeditation and conspiracy charges and argued that the government did not meet their burden of proof.
In response, the prosecution presented surveillance footage that showed Gripper and the other alleged shooters in the apartment building and then walking out together, all carrying guns. Bradford had walked out of the building less than a minute before the suspects.
“That is the product of an agreement,” prosecutors said.
Judge Ryan denied the motion of acquittal and said that although the evidence is “thin,” it is sufficient to prove conspiracy and premeditation.
Parties are set to reconvene on Aug. 13.
