A Florida rapper has been arrested for the murder of a local gang member after he allegedly documented the crime for a music video.
According to Polk County deputies, Lakeland, Florida resident La’Darion Chandler, 19-years-old, shot John McGee, 33, in the back after the two exchanged words in the street. The incident occurred on December 17.
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McGee, who was released from prison two months prior, on October 8, was a known gang member who went by “Bang Bang.”
“He’s a troublemaker, make no mistake about it, but he shouldn’t have died,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told Fox 13 of the victim. “But on December 17, two months after he was released from prison, he was shot in the back.”
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McGee was taken to the hospital after the shooting where he was expected to recover but succumbed to his injuries 24 days later after refusing proper treatment.
“He was going to get well and go back and seek revenge on his own against this other opposing gang member,” Judd added of McGee’s refusal to cooperate with authorities. “What we believe is he wanted to take care of it himself. He didn’t want that gang member locked up because if he was locked up, he couldn’t get to him.”
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“He was mean-mugging. He was bad-eyeing the other gang members and as a result, the event occurred,” Judd added of the shooting they’re calling the result of “testosterone overload.”
Meanwhile, Judd tells the news outlet that during their investigation, Chandler — who was on juvenile detention at the time of the shooting — was apprehended by police after he pulled a gun on another man just blocks away from where McGee was shot and so, he was thrown in the clinker. That individual however, did not die.
As the investigation continued, authorities learned of a rap video in which Chandler detailed McGee’s shooting.
“He’s not much of a rapper. My rapper expert says he doesn’t sing well. He doesn’t move well. He’s just a terrible rapper. But, he’s a stupid rapper. He not only makes a rap video about shooting somebody, but he also admits to shooting the guy in the back. I’m a coward rapper, that’s what I am. Watch me shoot the guy in the back,” Judd stated.
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Though, police are still on the hunt for the murder weapon — offering a $5,000 reward to boot — Chandler was charged with first-degree murder.
“When we laid that first-degree murder warrant on him, subsequent to that, he started crying like a baby that lost his pacifier, and ostensibly his gun was his pacifier. He bragged that he carried a gun all the time, and he would shoot it at his rivals,” said Judd.
“We want the gun. We want the gun that’s been pushed around. We know it’s been pushed around. We want the gun that killed John McGee.”
Chandler’s arrest was reportedly the result of a newly formed Gang Task Force.
