Photo by pablo.raw.

Yesterday, over 200 people gathered around the shuttered DC9 at a vigil for Ali Ahmed Mohammed, who died last Friday after being allegedly beaten by five club employees. (TBD and WTOP also have reports on the vigil.) And while the vigil’s first speaker pledged that the event would serve to remember Mohammed and not revisit the murky details of what happened the morning of his death, friends, family members and the crowd called the attack “barbaric” and seemed less inclined to simply memorialize the 27-year-old.

One of those speakers was Councilmember Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), who up until yesterday had remained relatively quiet about the incident. At the vigil, though, Graham publicly stated that he had been assured by police that a murder charge would result from the investigation, and that D.C. Fire Chief Dennis Rubin had assured him that Mohammed had been transported away from the scene in an ambulance, contradicting witness statements that he had been placed in a police cruiser.

In an interview with Graham after presumptive Mayor-elect Vince Gray’s Ward 1 town hall, the councilmember expanded upon his statements at the rally, indicating that not only had witnesses backed the claim that the five suspects had beaten Mohammed after he threw a brick through the club’s front window, but that some of the suspects were saying as much themselves.

“[Assistant Police] Chief [Peter] Newsham said to the assembled group…that they had evidence sufficient for the murder charge,” said Graham, referring to a meeting he held in his office on Monday for 20 of Mohammed’s friends and family members. Newsham was called to clarify details on the investigation at that meeting.

“You know what else he said which I didn’t want to go into in a rally situation? He said that the information was based on interviews with witnesses and suspects. And suspects. Which implies to me that some of the suspects have been talking,” Graham added.