Man Convicted For Killing Girlfriend In Alexandria Apartment

ALEXANDRIA, VA — A man was convicted Monday for the murder of his girlfriend at her Alexandria apartment in January.

Daniel Kankam, 44, of Alexandria was convicted on one count of first-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of murder for the killing in the victim's apartment in the unit block of South Van Dorn Street.

On Jan. 11, a roommate found the victim, Somaya Hussein Ahmed, dead in their apartment. Alexandria Police responding to the scene found she suffered significant upper body trauma but did not immediately determine what caused the injuries. After obtaining a warrant, police searched the apartment for weapons but did not find firearms or cartridge casings. The medical examiner determined the victim died of an intraoral gunshot wound and that a gun had been deep inside her mouth when fired.

The victim's roommate told police the victim dated Kankam, who was married. The victim was an employee of Kankam's security company, K-1 Tactical Security, and friends described their relationship as volatile.

Police found the victim's cell phone at the scene, revealing two videos related to her killing. In one video filmed on Sept. 30, 2018, Kankam appeared to be intoxicated in a parking lot. As the victim argues with him about his intoxication, Kankam says, "I’m about to (expletive deleted) kill you." The video shows him pulling out a gun and brandishing it at the victim before slowly dropping the gun and re-holstering.

The other video was recorded minutes before her death at 4 a.m. on Jan. 11. The video shows the victim and Kankam in a dispute in her bedroom. At points in the video, he says "you’re pissing me off" and "you should be scared." The video ends abruptly when Kankam realizes he's being filmed, appears angry and makes a movement toward the camera.

Around 12 minutes after the video ends, Kankam sent texts to the victim's phone. According to police evidence, he sent the texts after her death to create a false alibi, changed the crime scene to make it look like a robbery, moved her body, and removed the gun and fired cartridge case.

Upon being interviewed by police on Jan. 12, detectives determined his statements were contradicted by the videos and other electronic evidence. After he was arrested, he told a family member to get rid of a bag. Police recovered the bag and found it contained Kankam's security vest covered in the victim's blood, gun, fired cartridge case and two watches.

During the trial, Kankam admitted to removing evidence from the scene and that his gun caused her death and his vest was covered in her blood. However, he denied killing the victim. He claimed to be drinking alcohol in her bathroom and didn't know if she shot herself or an attacker entered her apartment. The medical examiner had testified in court that the wound path was uncommon for a suicide.

A jury recommended a total sentence of 26 years. A judge will formally sentence Kankam on Nov. 21.