XXXTentacion performs during the second day of the Rolling Loud Festival in downtown Miami on Saturday, May 6, 2017. (Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Jurors in the shooting death of rapper XXXTentacion heard opening statements Tuesday, with defense claiming the fatal 2018 shooting stemmed from feud between XXX and Drake.
Leonard Kerr, a family friend XXXTentacion, broke down as he told jurors how the suspects ambushed him and the rapper as they drove away from a motorcycle shop on June 18, 2018, according to Law & Crime.
Several videos were also played in court, including footage of XXX withdrawing $50K from a bank, followed by a video of defendants Michael Boatwright, Trayon Newsome, and Dedrick Williams inside a motorcycle shop moments before they shot and killed XXX by cutting him off while inside his vehicle to get his $50K in cash.
Each suspect is facing a first-degree murder charge.
Jurors also heard theories about the shooting. According to the defense, they explained it could have been a feud between XXX and Drake, but they say detectives refused to investigate that possibility.
The legal team for the three defendants argued that investigators did not follow up on XXXTentacion’s simmering feud with Drake in the aftermath of the 20-year-old’s tragic death.
The rapper, whose real name is Jahseh Onfroy, once stated on social media that if he ever ended up dead, Drake would be the reason behind it.
However, he later retracted that bold statement.
“For Broward County, for everyone involved, this was a nightmare,” one of the lawyers, Mauricio Padilla, told jurors.
Meanwhile, prosecutors argue that the shooting was the result of a robbery gone wrong, and discredited any claims linking Drake to the fatal shooting.
On June 18, 2018, Boatwright, Trayvon and Williams arrived as Riva Motorsports to buy masks with plans to commit armed robberies. However, those plans changed after the group spotted XXXTentacion inside the store, prosecutors said.
XXX was ambushed after leaving the store in his BMW as Williams cut off the rapper’s sports car with his SUV, while Boatwright and Newsome rushed XXXTentacion’s car to rob him, prosecutor Pascale Achille said in court Tuesday.
The trio ended up stealing about $50,000 that XXXTentacion had in a Louis Vuitton bag before Boatwright shot him multiple times “without any provocation,” Achille said.
The three were tied to the shooting through surveillance footage and cellphone pinging spots, as well as the testimony of Robert Allen.
Allen took a plea deal and is expected to testify during the trial, Achille said during her opening statement.
The rapper was a platinum-selling rising star who’s music explored themes of prejudice and depression in his songs. However, XXX drew widespread criticism over multiple arrests, including allegations and arrests for severely beating up and abusing his girlfriend.
