District Man Found Guilty Of Second-Degree Murder While Armed In 2011 Slaying In Northwest Washington-Victim, 19, Was Shot Four Times In An Attempted Robbery-

     WASHINGTON – Rashid Caviness-Bey, 20, of Washington, D.C., was found guilty by a jury today of charges stemming from a murder that took place during an attempted armed robbery in Northwest Washington, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.

     Caviness-Bey was found guilty by a jury in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia of charges of second-degree murder while armed and carrying a pistol without a license in the slaying of 19-year old Osman Al-Akbar. The Honorable Lynn Leibovitz scheduled sentencing for Aug. 2, 2013.

     According to the government’s evidence, on Aug. 17, 2011, at about 1:30 a.m., Mr. Al-Akbar bicycled toward his home after visiting his girlfriend’s house.  As he was riding home, he talked on his cell phone with his girlfriend.  At the same time, Caviness-Bey and two teenagers emerged from Girard Park near the 2600 block of University Place NW.  They carried two guns and dressed in a manner to conceal themselves. 

     Mr. Al-Akbar encountered Caviness-Bey and the two teenagers in the 2600 block of University Place NW, where they tried to rob him.  During the encounter, Mr. Al-Akbar was shot three times in the back.  After he fell to the street, dying, he was shot a fourth time in the face with a second gun.  Mr. Al-Akbar died in the street next to his bicycle and personal belongings, which were scattered around him.

     Caviness-Bey and the teenagers fled after the shooting.  One of the teenagers and Caviness-Bey fled into a dead-end alley behind an apartment building at the corner of 15th and Fuller Streets NW.  Along the way, witnesses saw them discard the clothing they had worn to conceal themselves during the robbery.  One of the witnesses also spotted them with a gun.  The witness alerted the police to the alley that Caviness-Bey and the teenager ran into.  The police found Caviness-Bey and the teenager hiding at the bottom of a basement stairwell.  Nearby, the police found the two guns used to kill Mr. Al-Akbar.  The police also found the discarded clothing in the alley and in the trash receptacles near the alley.

     In announcing the guilty verdict, U.S. Attorney Machen commended the work of the detectives of the Criminal Investigations Division, crime scene officers, and the Third Police District of the Metropolitan Police Department, and the U.S. Park Police.  He also expressed appreciation to those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Ortwein (now with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan), who secured the indictment in the case; Criminal Investigator Durand Odom; Jelahn Stewart, Michael Hailey, David Foster, Marcia Rinker, Melissa Milam, and Christina Principe, all of the Victim Witness Assistance Unit; Kimberly Smith, William Henderson, and Leif Hickling of the Litigation Technology Unit, Paralegal Specialists Marian Russell and Ethel Noble; the supervisors of the Appellate Division; and Librarian Lisa Kosow.  Finally, he praised the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorney Shana L. Fulton who tried the case.