FREMONT — Over two years, Alli Safi allegedly popped into the ASCO Auto Body shop in Fremont over his displeasure with repairs on his car.
His final trip came on March 5, when Safi and a friend allegedly got into it with an employee there, and drove down the street to another car repair place. But according to police, they were being tailed. The employee, identified in court records as 25-year-old Sylvester Carver, allegedly followed them in a black Tesla, waited for an opportune moment and riddled their Toyota with bullets from an automatic weapon.
Safi suffered nine gunshot wounds, including two to the head, but shot back during an initial exchange of gunfire with Carver, police say. He spent days in the hospital before being declared dead. Authorities allege that Carver fired 18 times into the Toyota, first firing about 13 shots, then firing an additional four to five times after the Toyota had crashed.
Carver is now being held at Santa Rita Jail without bail, facing charges of murdering Safi and attempting to murder his friend. At the time of the crime, he was out of jail awaiting trial in two gun-related felony cases. One, from 2020, charged him with possessing a loaded pistol. Another, from last year, accused him of brandishing a firearm at a person after a car crash, court records show.
Safi’s death appears to be all because of an Audi, according to police. He reportedly took the vehicle to ASCO Auto Body — which has a Yelp rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars — but wasn’t happy with how things turned out. The day of the shooting, he and Carver reportedly argued and cursed at each other, prompting Safi to leave.
Carver was identified as a suspect through video surveillance, multiple witness statements and a police interview with the shop owner, who told police Carver was the only one of his employees who matched the shooter’s description. But the owner also allegedly called a man named Keion Bolds after the shooting, and it was Bolds who police allege drove Carver from Fremont to Richmond, where Carver was tracked down and arrested, according to court records.
Bolds has not been charged in connection with the shooting. But police raided his Hayward home on March 8, and allegedly found a loaded gun with an illegal switch to make it fully automatic, two ounces of cocaine, roughly six pounds of marijuana and scales and baggies indicative of drug dealing. Bolds denied possession of the drugs, but has been charged with having cocaine for sale, possessing a gun as a felon and a misdemeanor count of child endangerment based on the gun being “quickly hidden behind a dresser and covered with children’s books,” police said in court records.
As for Carver, after the shooting he allegedly returned to the auto body shop, told his co-workers that the Tesla belonged to a customer and asked them to remove a bumper that had a hole from a bullet reportedly fired by Safi’s gun. Carver is next due in court on May 29 to enter a plea, records show.
