NY1 VIDEO: On the afternoon of July 23, 2003 a young man named Othneil Askew attended a City Council meeting with Councilman James Davis at City Hall. For reasons that are still unclear, Askew pulled a gun on Davis, shooting him several times from the balcony of the council chambers. The councilman, known as a fierce anti-violence advocate, was pronounced dead at Downtown Hospital shortly afterwards. NY1's Davidson Golden filed the following report.

NY1 FOLLOW-UP: The true motivation for Davis' murder died with his killer, as a plainclothes detective assigned to City Council Speaker Gifford Miller shot Askew after he fired , killing him. Investigators never found compelling evidence for a clear motive.

Soon after the shooting, Davis' brother Geoffrey announced that he'd run for his brother's empty council seat in the 35th District. But in November, he was soundly defeated by Letitia James, who still holds the seat today.