Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Grammy-Winning Rapper Lil Durk Charged With Orchestrating 2022 Los Angeles Killing
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 2 months ago on
October 25, 2024

Lil Durk poses in the press room with the award for best melodic rap performance for "All My Life" by Lil Durk featuring J. Cole during the 66th annual Grammy Awards, Feb. 4, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP/Richard Shotwell/Invision)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

FORT LAUDERDALE — Grammy Award-winning rapper Lil Durk has been arrested in Florida on federal charges that he paid for the attempted 2022 revenge killing of rapper Quando Rondo at a Los Angeles gas station, a shooting that resulted in the death of Rondo’s cousin.

Durk, 32, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire in the slaying of Saviay’a Robinson, 24, who was gunned down on Aug. 19, 2022, according to an FBI affidavit released Friday.

Arrests and Charges

Five other members of Durk’s Chicago-based rap collective, “Only the Family” or “OTF,” have also been arrested and at least two more arrests may be forthcoming, according to court documents that have been filed. Durk was arrested Thursday night in South Florida as he attempted to flee the country, the FBI says.

Durk, whose real name is Durk Banks, won a Grammy earlier this year for Best Melodic Rap Performance for his song “All My Life,” which featured J. Cole. He has also been nominated three times and was a featured performer on Drake’s “Laugh Now Cry Later.”

FBI Agent Sarah Corcoran said in her affidavit that OTF members engage “in violence, including murder and assault, at the direction of Banks and to maintain their status in OTF.”

Durk’s representatives did not immediately respond to emails Friday seeking comment.

Background and Alleged Motive

According to Corcoran’s affidavit and other federal court records, the shooting stems from the November 2020 slaying of OTF rapper King Von, 26, at an Atlanta nightclub after Von and Rondo got into a fight. Records say a friend of Rondo’s pulled a gun and shot Von several times, killing him. Von, whose real name was Dayvon Bennett, had two hit singles, ″Crazy Story″ and “Took Her to the O.”

Authorities say Durk made it known that he would “pay a bounty” to anyone who killed Rondo, whose real name is Tyquian Bowman.

Almost two years later, a murder plot quickly came together, Corcoran wrote.

Details of the Alleged Plot

On Aug. 18, 2022, Durk’s associates learned that Rondo was staying at a Los Angeles hotel. That day, Deandre Wilson, Keith Jones, David Lindsey, Asa Houston and a fifth unnamed suspect flew from Chicago to San Diego and then drove to Los Angeles using funds provided by Durk, Corcoran said.

That day, Durk allegedly texted an associate arranging the flights, “Don’t book no flights under no names involved wit me.” Corcoran said there is video evidence that Durk was staying at a house in the San Fernando Valley that day.

Once arriving in Los Angeles, the OTF members met Kayon Grant, who had flown there on a private jet. Grant, a top OTF associate, got the men hotel rooms, purchased them four ski masks and obtained two luxury sedans, court records say. Grant allegedly gave Jones, Lindsey and a third unnamed suspect guns, including one that had been converted into a fully automatic machine gun.

The next day, the group allegedly followed Rondo and Robinson as they drove a Cadillac Escalade to a Los Angeles marijuana dispensary, a West Hollywood clothing store and then a gas station across the street from the Beverly Center.

There, Houston allegedly parked his car behind the station so Jones, Lindsey and the unnamed defendant could ambush Rondo. They got out and opened fire, killing Robinson, who was standing outside the Escalade, but missing Rondo, the indictment and news stories about the shooting say.

The suspects then went to an In-N-Out hamburger stand where they discussed payment with Grant and then flew home to Chicago from San Diego, Corcoran and other documents say. Wilson allegedly later paid Jones and Lindsey an undisclosed amount.

Grant, Jones, Lindsey, Wilson and Houston were arrested Thursday in Chicago on conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire charges. No attorney information was immediately available for those men in court records.

After their arrests, Corcoran wrote, Durk booked two flights from South Florida airports — one to Dubai and one to Switzerland. He then booked a private flight to Italy, but was arrested in Miami before he could board that flight.

Durk and the other defendants are being held pending their transfer to Los Angeles.

Previous Legal Issues and Community Impact

In 2019, Durk and King Von were charged in Atlanta with a drive-by shooting that left a man wounded in the leg. Prosecutors dropped the case against Durk in 2022, two years after Von’s slaying. Durk had denied his involvement.

In 2014, Durk pleaded guilty to felony aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and felony possession of a firearm after he was seen carrying a gun on a Chicago street. He was spared jail time.

Durk had recently been honored by two villages in Chicago’s western suburbs as they announced their collaboration with his charity, Neighborhood Heroes Foundation.

“This partnership and collaboration will bring resources and mentoring opportunities to the youth in our community,” Andre Harvey, mayor of Bellwood, 14 miles (23 kilometers) west of Chicago, said on the village’s Facebook page last week.

But on Friday, Katrina Thompson, the mayor of nearby Broadview, announced she had severed ties to Neighborhood Heroes and had withdrawn the honorary key to the village given Durk.

While acknowledging that Durk and other suspects are presumed innocent, village residents have “even higher moral and ethical standards of behavior. And our public partners must also reflect the same uncompromising standards,” Thompson wrote on the village’s Facebook page.

“As mayor, protecting Broadview’s interests and upholding the values of residents is job number one.”

A telephone message seeking comment from Harvey, Bellwood’s mayor, was left at his office.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Opinion: Does Jesus Want Christians to Be Environmentalists?

DON'T MISS

Illegal Immigrant Faces Murder Charges in Death of Woman Lit on Fire in NYC Subway

DON'T MISS

$1M Investment in Fresno Lender to Help Small Businesses Get Funding

DON'T MISS

Who Is Making a Difference in Fresno? Explore This List of 2024’s Shining Stars

DON'T MISS

Fresno State Tossed by Northern Illinois in Famous Idaho Potato Bowl

DON'T MISS

2 Rescued After Santa Cruz Wharf Partially Collapses Due to Heavy Surf From Major Pacific Storm

DON'T MISS

Spain Faces Threats of Terrorism and Unrest, US Warns in Travel Advisory

DON'T MISS

Bill Clinton Is Hospitalized With a Fever but in Good Spirits, Spokesperson Says

DON'T MISS

Media Relations Expert Leaves City Hall for Valley Children’s Hospital

DON'T MISS

Amar Augillard Departs the Fresno State Basketball Team

UP NEXT

Illegal Immigrant Faces Murder Charges in Death of Woman Lit on Fire in NYC Subway

UP NEXT

$1M Investment in Fresno Lender to Help Small Businesses Get Funding

UP NEXT

Who Is Making a Difference in Fresno? Explore This List of 2024’s Shining Stars

UP NEXT

Fresno State Tossed by Northern Illinois in Famous Idaho Potato Bowl

UP NEXT

2 Rescued After Santa Cruz Wharf Partially Collapses Due to Heavy Surf From Major Pacific Storm

UP NEXT

Spain Faces Threats of Terrorism and Unrest, US Warns in Travel Advisory

UP NEXT

Bill Clinton Is Hospitalized With a Fever but in Good Spirits, Spokesperson Says

UP NEXT

Media Relations Expert Leaves City Hall for Valley Children’s Hospital

UP NEXT

Amar Augillard Departs the Fresno State Basketball Team

UP NEXT

Former Bulldog QB Mikey Keene Commits to Michigan

Who Is Making a Difference in Fresno? Explore This List of 2024’s Shining Stars

15 hours ago

Fresno State Tossed by Northern Illinois in Famous Idaho Potato Bowl

15 hours ago

2 Rescued After Santa Cruz Wharf Partially Collapses Due to Heavy Surf From Major Pacific Storm

15 hours ago

Spain Faces Threats of Terrorism and Unrest, US Warns in Travel Advisory

16 hours ago

Bill Clinton Is Hospitalized With a Fever but in Good Spirits, Spokesperson Says

16 hours ago

Media Relations Expert Leaves City Hall for Valley Children’s Hospital

17 hours ago

Amar Augillard Departs the Fresno State Basketball Team

17 hours ago

Former Bulldog QB Mikey Keene Commits to Michigan

18 hours ago

Thunderstorms on Christmas Eve? They’re in the Fresno Forecast

18 hours ago

SE Fresno Voters Have Their Pick of Familiar Candidates to Succeed Chavez

18 hours ago

Opinion: Does Jesus Want Christians to Be Environmentalists?

As Christmas approaches, I know that my Christian friends will ask me why I chose to work for the environmental nonprofit Earthday.org inste...

2 hours ago

2 hours ago

Opinion: Does Jesus Want Christians to Be Environmentalists?

13 hours ago

Illegal Immigrant Faces Murder Charges in Death of Woman Lit on Fire in NYC Subway

14 hours ago

$1M Investment in Fresno Lender to Help Small Businesses Get Funding

15 hours ago

Who Is Making a Difference in Fresno? Explore This List of 2024’s Shining Stars

15 hours ago

Fresno State Tossed by Northern Illinois in Famous Idaho Potato Bowl

A closed wharf is seen in Santa Cruz, Calif., Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, after the pier partially collapsed and fell into the ocean. (AP/Martha Mendoza)
15 hours ago

2 Rescued After Santa Cruz Wharf Partially Collapses Due to Heavy Surf From Major Pacific Storm

16 hours ago

Spain Faces Threats of Terrorism and Unrest, US Warns in Travel Advisory

16 hours ago

Bill Clinton Is Hospitalized With a Fever but in Good Spirits, Spokesperson Says

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend