Suspect in murder has violent history, cops say

DEERFIELD BEACH – It was just before 2 a.m. on a Sunday in May 2014 and Dedrick Williams was arguing with his then-girlfriend in the middle of a Fort Lauderdale street, police said. He pulled out a gun, pointed it at her head, and threatened to kill her, according to an arrest report.

Williams’ cousin urged him to back off and Williams ran off, throwing the gun into a yard.

Four years and one month later, according to Broward Sheriff’s detectives, Williams would be the getaway driver in the shocking, broad-daylight shooting death of XXXTentacion, the 20-year-old rapper and singer who was one of the biggest hip-hop artists to ever emerge from Broward County.

The charges in Williams’ 2014 case involving the gun threat against the girlfriend were ultimately dropped, while Williams also faced other charges and arrests in the years before his alleged involvement in the XXXTentacion killing. Court records depict Williams as a tattoo artist and convicted felon who kept a loaded gun even though it was illegal for him to have one.

As of Thursday, Williams remained the only person arrested in the slaying of XXXTentacion.

Police say Williams also had a gun-related encounter with them in December 2016. He was arrested in Coconut Creek, when officers said they found a fully loaded .45-caliber semiautomatic assault rifle with a scope in the trunk of a Honda

Accord that Williams been a passenger in.

Williams told police he had given a friend with a concealed weapons license $500 to buy Williams the gun at a Fort Lauderdale gun show — and that in addition Williams also would tattoo him.

At the time, Williams was had

a convicted felon who was on probation and who had already amassed 11 felony convictions, the report stated.

In another case, Florida Department of Corrections officers did a search of a home Williams was living at in Pompano Beach in November 2017.

There, they found a 9 mm Glock handgun loaded with six bullets under some clothes on a couch, a report

stated. The officers also found a baggie of cocaine in a dresser and Williams and another man were arrested.

Prosecutors dropped the charges in both the Coconut Creek and Pompano Beach gun cases. Records indicating why the charges were dismissed weren’t available Thursday.

While many of the posts on Williams’ Instagram account are photos and videos of his tattoo work, there also

are pictures and videos of Williams flashing stacks of money and doing spin-outs and riding four-wheelers.

Williams faces a charge of first-degree murder.

On Wednesday, Broward sheriff’s investigators said they want to find Robert Allen, 22, of Fort Lauderdale, the “person of interest” they say could have information about the killing.