A 19-year-old teenager in Lakeland, Florida is facing charges for a gang-related murder that police say he bragged about in a rap song after the fact.
From The Blaze:
A man who fancied himself a rapper included lyrics about killing another rapper in a song according to a Florida sheriff who charged the man with murder.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd outlined the details of the arrest of 19-year-old La'Darion Chandler in a media briefing Thursday.
"He's not much of a rapper," said Judd. "But he's a stupid rapper."
The case is really crazy, but indicative of what you often see in gang-related shootings.
The victim refused to rat out the man who shot him as he was slowly dying in the hospital, refusing to take his medicine, but likely determined to get out and exact revenge on his own.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd gave a press conference about the entire story here:
Investigators tried to interview people about the murder, but many witnesses refused to speak to them, Judd said. Eventually enough people began to make statements to the police that they identified a suspect.
Chandler, who had a lengthy criminal history already, had been in jail over a separate incident when police investigated him as a suspect.
Detectives reviewed a rap song that Chandler had published and found lyrics that appeared to reference the murder of the 33-year-old victim.
"N***a tried to runI hit his back, Though I shoot like a mac, Dirt a** dead n***as knowing where to find me at"
The sheriff's office published a clip from the rap song with the lyrics Judd said referred to the shooting death.
"C'mon man! You shoot someone else in the back? What kind of coward is that?" Judd exclaimed.
The young man, who is accused of murder, has been arrested multiple times, with his first arrest at 11 years old.
It's so so sad what is going on in these gang communities.
The sheriff went on to say that although the teenager was a tough guy in the streets, he was "crying like a baby that lost his pacifier" when he was charged with first-degree murder.
Chandler was charged with first-degree murder, convicted delinquent in possession of a firearm, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He's being held without bond.
Judd said his police rap expert told him that Chandler's rap music was among the worst he had ever heard.
Thank God for sheriffs with backbones out there, like Grady Judd, who are willing to do the unpleasant and tough work of putting away these criminals.
