Unarmed woman, 23, shot dead by Brooklyn NYPD was on attempted murder rap

The woman shot dead by a Brooklyn cop after she crashed a stolen car was part of a violent crew who police say forced a man into his home at gunpoint, robbed him and shot him as he ran away.

Shantel Davis, 23, took a bullet in the chest during a wild struggle with police after she tried to drive away from the smashup on Church Ave. and E. 38th St. in East Flatbush on Thursday, cops said.

No gun was found on Davis. Her rap sheet — which included robbery and drug busts — shows she was no stranger to run-ins with the law.

Davis was due in court Friday on charges stemming from an attack on April 23, 2011 — when she and a band of brutes allegedly held a man hostage as they robbed his Clarendon Road apartment, court papers show.

The heist netted cash, video games and jewelry, the documents show. But the thieves threatened to take 29-year-old Ralph Ragoobar to East New York and torture him for more loot. He managed to break free and started running down the street, court papers show.

That’s when Davis’ crew opened fire, striking the fleeing man three times in the back and once in the leg. He survived the wounds.

“I was shot five times,” Ragoobar told the Daily News. “I just want to move on with my life.”

Davis and two others were later booked on charges that included kidnapping, attempted murder and weapons possession.

Davis was out on $25,000 bail when two narcotics cops saw her blow a red light at E. 48th St. and start speeding westbound down Church Ave. about 5:35 p.m. Thursday, cops said.

The two plainclothes officers — who sources identified as Detective Phillip Atkins, 44, and Police Officer Daniel Guida, 27 — began to follow Davis in their unmarked car as she sped through a series of red lights before she crashed, cops said.

Davis was driving a 1998 Toyota Camry that she allegedly stole the week before. Armed with a pistol — and just a block away from her E. 52nd St. home — Davis approached the car’s owner, Vilma Craig, 57, and told her to hand over the keys, sources said.

“She had the gun pointed at me,” Craig told the Daily News Friday. “She took my car, my pocketbook and everything in the car.”

It was not clear whether the two cops knew the car was stolen when they approached Davis after she wrecked it.

The 5-foot-6, 185-pound Davis slid into the passenger side of the car in an attempt to flee, cops said.

After a brief struggle with Guida, Davis hopped back in the driver’s seat and tried to drive away.

Atkins, holding his service-issued Smith & Wesson 9-mm., began to grapple with the frantic woman and tried to stop her from putting the car into gear.


But Davis managed to put the car in reverse and hit the gas. During the struggle, Atkins fired one shot, hitting Davis in the chest and killing her.

Atkins had never fired his weapon while on duty, cops said, but court papers show he has been the defendant in six federal lawsuits.

But some say litigation is common for active officers like Atkins, who boasts more than 800 arrests during his 12-year career.

“It’s unfair to measure a narcotic detective’s performance by the lawsuits that are filed against him,” said Michael Palladino, head of the Detectives' Endowment Association. “Drug dealers are interested in one thing: making money, either by selling drugs or filing lawsuits.”

Friends and neighbors described Davis as “a sweetie.”

“She was sweet,” said friend Kelvia Joseph, 24. “She did her stuff on the side, but she was a good person.”

By Oren Yaniv , John Marzulli AND Joe Kemp / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS