Ex-football star charged with murder

WEST CHESTER >> Law enforcement authorities have announced that criminal charges have been filed against a former Coatesville Area Senior High football player for the fatal shooting of a friend and teammate in what was described as an accident.

On Friday, Dapree Bryant was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Gregory V. Hines on charges of involuntary manslaughter, recklessly endangering another person, firearms not to be carried without a license and related offenses. He was able to post $250,000 bond and was released from custody that day.

In a press release, authorities said that Bryant and others had been playing dice and socializing late last month in a garage at a teenager’s home in Coatesville when the alleged accidental shooting occurred. Daryl Perry, Bryant’s friend, was struck once in the neck and died later after being driven to the hospital by Bryant and another man. He was 18.

According to the release and an accompanying criminal complaint, while Perry sat in a chair looking at his phone as the others played dice, Bryant picked up a gun sitting on a plastic tub in the garage and began to play with it. The gun went off and struck the victim. During this investigation, police determined that the defendant did not know there was a round in the chamber ready to fire.

Said District Attorney Deb Ryan in the release: “I want to express my deepest condolences to Mr. Perry’s family as they grieve this heart-wrenching loss. Parents should never have to bury a child, especially as the result of such a senseless tragedy. Mr. Perry was a new father who will not be able to watch his son grow up.

“I cannot stress enough the critical need to address gun vi

olence in our county,” Ryan said. “These devastating losses affect not only families but entire communities.”

She was joined in offering condolences to Perry’s family by Coatesville Police Chief John Laufer, who also warned against the proliferation of illegal guns by young people in the community. The gun used in the shooting had reportedly been stolen from an owner in Philadelphia.

“Although the result was a senseless tragedy, and our thoughts and prayers are with the Perry family, the root cause of the death was access to illegal firearms,” Laufer said in the press release. “Addressing gun violence and the culture where illegal firearms are readily

accepted by our youth will require more than efforts from the police.

“It will require the entire community to include parents, family, teachers, coaches, churches, and mentors in partnership with law enforcement to change that culture,” he said.

An attorney representing Bryant, David Moscow of the Philadelphia law firm of Alva & Shuttleworth, said he had no comment on the case when reached by phone Saturday.

Bryant, 20, of Coatesville, played football at CASH from 2016 to 2019 as a wide receiver, and compiled three-straight 1,000yard seasons, giving him Ches-Mont records in career receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns.

To some acclaim, he committed to Villanova along with Rickey Ortega, his

passing companion on the Red Raiders, in 2020, after being recruited nationally. However, he apparently became uncomfortable with the coaching staff and tight discipline at the school on the Main Line, and left in October as the 2020 season was sputtering to find direction during the fall pandemic surge.

He reportedly had been working at ArcelorMittal, the former Lukens Steel plant in the city, since leaving school.

Perry had been his teammate on the Red Raiders, and had himself gone on to win a place on a college football team, having enrolled at Lincoln University after graduating from CASH in 2020. According to his obituary, he was known for his skillful athletic abilities, excelling in football, track, lacrosse and baseball. He left behind his 3-monthold son, Roman Anthony Perry, when he died in May 30.

In making the arrest for the shooting, Coatesville police had to sort through a number of shifting descriptions of what happened the afternoon of May 29. Authorities were apparently able to use the county Investigative Grand Jury to compel testimony about what had occurred.

According to the criminal complaint filed on Thursday by Coatesville Detective Joseph Thompson, at 7:20 p.m. on May 29, Caln police were called to Brandywine Hospital for the report

of a victim with a gunshot wound to the head or neck after he was brought to the hospital by Bryant and a man later identified as John Aguilar. The victim, Perry, was later transferred to Paoli Hospital, where he died the following day.

Caln police learned the incident happened at a house in the 300 block of Community Lane in Coatesville. When Coatesville City Police arrived at the scene, they found blood on the driveway and outside a garage. They then began an examination of the crime scene.

Meanwhile, Bryant and Aguilar had agreed to speak with Coatesville police about what had occurred, and Bryant met with Thompson at the police station. In that interview, Bryant said that he had been at the Community Lane house with a juvenile and that while they were playing dice he heard a shot, and saw Perry lying on the ground.

He said that he believed the shot had come from outside the house from someone who ran away, and that he and the juvenile, who was not identified by name in the complaint, loaded Perry in the back of his car and that he then went to pick up Aguilar, leaving the juvenile behind. Police began to look for other suspects who had fired the shot.

In his interview, Aguilar said that he had been playing dice at the juvenile’s home, but had left before

the shooting took place. He said Bryant had called him and told him about the shooting, and that when Bryant arrived at his house Perry was in the back seat. He said that as he tried to keep Perry alive, Bryant told him that one or two people wearing masks had come into the garage and shot Perry. They took the money that had been in the dice game and fled, he said.

But in a subsequent interview, Thompson said, Bryant admitted that it was he who had shot Perry. He said that he, Aguilar, the first juvenile and a second juvenile had all been playing dice, and that Perry was “just hanging out.” Bryant said that when he had finished playing, he picked up a gun that was sitting on a plastic tub in the garage.

“He stated that he did not have the gun in his hand for more the two or three seconds … and it goes off,” Thompson wrote. Bryant claimed he did not know that “one was ‘up top,’ “meaning that he did not know there was a round of ammunition in the gun’s chamber. He then described loading Perry into the car and getting Aguilar to go to the hospital.

He said he did not know what had happened to the gun after the shooting, and police were not able to find it during their processing of the scene the day of the shooting. On June 2, however, Coatesville police recovered a Remington .45 caliber, which records show had been reported stolen. On Tuesday, Thompson met with Bryant and showed him the gun. Bryant looked at the weapon and acknowledged it was the one he used in the shooting.

Bryant had been charged with weapons offenses the day of the shooting after a search of his car recovered a so-called “ghost gun” that he said was his. “Ghost guns” are unregistered firearms that can be ordered through the Internet and assembled later, and are increasingly used by those who, like Bryant, are not legally permitted to have a license for.

“We have just begun to see ‘ghost guns’ in Chester County, and it is a disturbing trend.’ Said Ryan in her release. “‘Ghost guns’ are unregulated and untraceable firearms that are as dangerous and deadly as normal firearms. Those who unlawfully carry these weapons will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We will not tolerate any more gun violence.”

The preliminary hearing on the involuntary manslaughter charge is is scheduled for July 2 before Hines. Senior Deputy District Attorney Carlos Barraza is the assigned prosecutor.

Contact Coatesville police with any information about this case at 610-3842300.

Dapree Bryant