Surveillance footage showing the shocking robbery and murder of rapper XXXTentacion outside a South Florida motorcycle shop was played in court Wednesday during the trial of three men accused in the killing.
Surveillance footage showing the shocking robbery and murder of rapper XXXTentacion outside a South Florida motorcycle shop was played in court Wednesday during the trial of three men accused in the killing.
The footage, which hadn't previously been released to the public, showed the 20-year-old rapper arriving at Riva Motorsports near Deerfield Beach on June 18, 2018, with his uncle, Leonard Kerr.
In the video, XXXTentacion, whose real name was Jahseh Onfroy, is seen speaking with an employee and checking out a motorcycle as two of the suspects walk into the store and pass right by him.
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Later in the footage, XXXTentacion leaves the store and gets into his BMW. As he starts to drive out of the parking lot, an SUV pulls up and blocks the BMW's path.
Two men jump out of the SUV and point guns at the BMW, as Kerr, who was in the passenger seat, jumps out and runs.
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After struggling for several moments with XXXTentacion, one of the suspects runs around to the passenger side of the car.
XXXTentacion continued to try to fight the suspects off before the gunman opens fire, killing the rapper in the car.
The pair then jump into the SUV and flee the scene, the video shows.
Kerr took the stand on the first day of the trial Tuesday and was back to testify Wednesday about what he saw the day the rapper was shot and killed.
Kerr recounted how the two men who jumped out of the SUV with guns and said the taller one pointed a weapon at him.
"The taller guy was like this and said 'don't come out the effin' car.' The short one was by X here. 'Where's the effin' chain, give me the effin' chain.'"
Kerr said the other man was trying to pull the rapper's gold chain from his neck and said he could hear XXXTentacion asking, "What's this for?” At that point, Kerr said, he decided to escape, pushing the button that opened the passenger door.
Kerr said when he looked back, the taller man was pointing his gun at XXXTentacion, and he said he heard at least two loud bangs. The men then got back into the SUV and sped off, taking with them the $50,000 in cash the rapper had in his designer bag.
Video played in court Monday showed XXXTentacion taking the money out of the bank earlier in the day.
Defense attorneys pointed out that Kerr saw the gun but didn't see which of the masked suspects fired the shots.
"I couldn’t tell as I was out there. I just heard the shots," Kerr said.
Defense attorneys also sought to cast doubts on the investigative work of detectives involved in the case. Kerr replied "no" when asked if he was shown photos of the suspects to see if he could identify them.
But prosecutors laid into what Kerr saw that day.
"The firearm that you’re referring to that the shorter gunman had was being pointed in the victims face as he was saying give me the [expletive] chain, correct? assistant state attorney Pascale Achille asked.
"Yes," Kerr responded.
The three suspects currently on trial - 28-year-old Michael Boatwright, 26-year-old Dedrick Williams and 24-year-old Trayvon Newsome - could all receive life sentences if convicted of first-degree murder. They are also charged with armed robbery. They have pleaded not guilty.
A fourth suspect, 26-year-old Robert Allen, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last year and took the stand Wednesday afternoon to testify against the other three suspects.
Allen said Boatwright was the person who fired the fatal shots.
"As he’s grabbing the bag, shots are fired," Allen said.
"Who shoots the shots that are fired?" the prosecutor asked.
"Michael Boatwright," Allen said.
"Who does he shoot?" the prosecutor asked.
"Triple X," Allen replied.
