CHICAGO — Prosecutors have accused a downstate man of fatally shooting a pot dealer during a disagreement over the authenticity of a $100 bill in Chicago last year.
Datavion Braxton, 18, arranged to meet 19-year-old Yazeed Abunajim through Snapchat to buy some marijuana on June 24, 2022, prosecutors say. Abunajimi drove to the meet-up location in the 13200 block of South Corliss in a car with two companions.
Braxton stepped up to their car and handed over a $100 bill, but Abunajim thought the bill was counterfeit, and he told his driver to drive away, prosecutors said in a detention petition.
As the car moved forward, Braxton fired a single shot, striking Abunajim in the shoulder, according to prosecutors. Abunajim died.
Abunajim’s two friends identified Braxton as the shooter, and data from Braxton’s SnapChat phone put him in the area of the murder at the time of the crime, the petition said. According to a CPD arrest report, a CHA security camera captured the shooting.
Chicago police recently arrested Braxton in Kankakee County. He had been in custody there since local authorities charged him with firing a gun in Kankakee on June 16, according to a local news report.
He is now charged with first-degree murder for Abunajim’s death and two counts of attempted murder, one charge for each of Abunajim’s friends. Judge Barbara Dawkins ordered him detained to await trial.
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