Hartford teenage rapper fatally shot in parked car
“He was only 17 years old ... [He] didn’t even get to graduate school yet.”
Hartford police are investigating the killing of a local teenager and rapper who was found shot in a car Sunday evening.
Around 5:40 p.m., officers were dispatched to the area of 258 Martin St. following a Shotspotter activation. Upon arrival, they found Juan Bautista Garcia, 17, of 89 Martin St. in Hartford, dead in a parked car.
Garcia, also known as YNT Juan, was a rapper with more than 25,700 Instagram followers and nearly 4,000 Youtube subscribers.
His last Instagram story, posted just hours before his death, was promoting a new music video for his song “Power Remix,” which was released last Tuesday.
“He was only 17 years old,” a childhood friend of Garcia, who only gave her first name as Janine, said. “He never went live on his
Instagram to talk about drama, he only went on there to support his friends or promote his music. [He] didn’t even get to graduate school yet.”
More than 160 comments on the social media platform mourned the death of the 17-year-old.
“I actually believed in you from the moment we first met & made a video & I’m grateful we did, sleep easy legend,” one wrote, as another said “R.I.P Juan, almost had this ... in the bag, I felt it.”
The department said Monday morning the circumstances surrounding the shooting are under investigation by the Hartford Police Major Crime and Crime Scene divisions.
Garcia’s death marks the 25th homicide police are investigating in Hartford this year, the same number recorded in all of 2020 and two more than the total number recorded in 2019. If a deadly federal task force shooting on Jan. 6 is included, Hartford has had 26 homicides this year.
If the murder rate continues through the fall and winter, 2021 may be among the deadliest years Hartford has seen in decades, topped only by the 55 murders recorded in 1994 at the height of the city’s gang wars and the 44 murders in 2003, when an arson at the Greenwood Health Center killed 16 in a single night.
Officers ask anyone with any information regarding the case to call the HPD Tip Line at 860-722TIPS (8477).