XXXTENTACION’s step-uncle broke down as he described his nephew’s death during the opening day of the rapper’s murder trial.
Leonard Kerr — who was with X (real name Jahseh Onfroy) when he was shot and killed by armed robbers outside a motorsports dealerships in Deerfield Beach, Florida on June 18, 2018 — delivered emotional testimony inside a Fort Lauderdale, Florida courtroom on Tuesday (February 7).
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During his turn on the stand, Kerr — who is originally from Jamaica and moved to Florida in 2015 — detailed the deadly robbery that claimed XXXTENTACION’s life and flourishing music career at the tender age of 20.
Inside the dealership, Kerr recalled noticing that his nephew’s Louis Vuitton bag, which contained $50,000 in cash, was open and some of the money was exposed, so he advised him to zip the bag closed. X obliged.
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When they climbed into his nephew’s BMW sports car to leave, with Kerr sat in the front passenger seat, he remembered an SUV blocking the parking lot entrance and two armed men jumping out and ambushing them.
“The taller one was like this [pointing gun], ‘You don’t come out the [fucking] car!’ And he was with a gun. The shorter one was at Jahseh’s side,” he recalled. “He was digging [his gun into X’s neck saying] ‘Give me the chain! Where’s the chain!'”
Kerr said XXXTENTACION was caught off guard by the ambush and asked: “What is this for?” At that point, Kerr opened his passenger door, got out of the vehicle and fled back inside the dealership.
“I was like, if I run, I can get shot, but I can live. If I sit….” Kerr said, his voicing trailing off until he stopped to regain his composure. “I run, and I keep running to the side of the road where the bike shop is. When I go up there, I pick up my phone to try to call the cops.”
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Kerr said when he looked back, the taller man was pointing his gun at XXXTENTACION. He then heard at least two loud bangs, after which the men got back into their SUV and sped off, taking with them the $50,000 the rapper had in his designer bag.
Towards the end of his testimony, Kerr recalled going back to the BMW and seeing his nephew sat motionless in the driver’s seat.
The three men who stand accused of murdering XXXTENTACION in the trial are Michael Boatwright, 28, Trayvon Newsome, 24, and Dedrick Williams, 26. Boatwright and Newsome are alleged to have been the gunmen, while Williams was allegedly the driver. If convicted, they all face up to life in prison.
A fourth suspect, 26-year-old Robert Allen, pleaded guilty last year to second-degree murder and is expected to testify against his former friends.
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Kerr’s testimony came the same day newly-surfaced footage of XXXTENTACION’s final moments was shown to jurors. A short video clip showed the late rapper withdrawing $50,000 from the bank — which he later stuffed inside his Louis Vuitton bag — in seemingly high spirits.
“He was fine. He seemed happy,” the bank teller, Cecilia Ramos, said when asked about X’s demeanor that day.
