Third suspect held in rapper’s slaying
One man still at large in Deerfield shooting
A Fort Lauderdale man accused of participating in the armed robbery and fatal shooting of rapper XXXTentacion has been caught in Georgia, the U.S. Marshals Service said.
Robert Allen, 22, of Lauderhill, was arrested at his sister’s home and jailed Wednesday in Dodge County, southeast of Atlanta, where he will stay until he is brought to Fort Lauderdale to await trial.
XXXTentacion was ambushed and shot multiple times June 18 outside of a Deerfield Beach motorcycle shop.
The performer, 20, had visited a bank before he went shopping and had withdrawn $50,000 that the killers are accused of stealing.
Allen is not accused of being the gunman.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office called Allen a person of interest in the XXXTentacion case after he was seen in surveillance images from RIVA Motorsports in Deerfield Beach before the gunfire happened.
But on July 18, a grand jury indicted him and three other men who are all charged with first degree murder with a firearm and armed robbery.
Two of the men — Dedrick D. Williams, 22, of Pompano Beach and Michael Boatwright, 22, of Fort Lauderdale — are in custody in the main Broward County jail in Fort Lauderdale. The indictment describes Boatwright as the gunman.
Still being sought is Trayvon Newsome, 20, of Fort Lauderdale.
XXXTentacion’s given name was Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy. The rising music star grew up in Broward County and lived in Parkland.
It’s not yet clear how he may have known Allen or any of the men accused of robbing and killing him.
On Friday, Broward County Crime Stoppers shared a tip with detectives about Allen’s possible whereabouts, the sheriff’s office said.
“Fortunately [Allen] came to Georgia and our guys were ready for him,” said Stewart Cottingham, a supervisory inspector with the Marshals’ southeast regional fugitive task force in Georgia. “He was staying at a relative’s house in Eastman, a rural area where everybody knows everybody in the community.”
And apparently the community knew Allen was new to town. Allen had been in Eastman two weeks ago for a few days, and showed up again on Monday night or early Tuesday morning, Cottingham said.
“Fugitives bounce between locations to try and stay ahead of law enforcement,” Cottingham said.
Marshals’ officers and local law enforcement watched the sister’s home. On Wednesday, they knocked on her door and a relative admitted he was inside, Cottingham said.
Though the sheriff’s office says XXXTentacion was robbed of a Louis Vuitton bag that held the $50,000 he’d withdrawn from a bank, Allen seemed to be low on cash.
“Based on his appearance, and that family members were driving him around, it appeared at the time of his arrest that he was in poor financial shape,” Cottingham said.
Allen was considered a “high risk fugitive,” but he surrendered without any trouble.
“He knew he had nowhere else to go,” Cottingham said.
Allen had a criminal record before his latest troubles.
Before Allen was indicted, a Broward County judge had signed a warrant for his arrest on June 28. Allen had been on probation for possession of PVP, or flakka, and for carrying a concealed firearm.
But he “failed to make every effort” to find a job, and at that time owed the state $3,386 for accrued monthly fees to pay for community supervision, the warrant said.
As for Trayvon Newsome, the Marshals Service, which hunts fugitives across the country and
“He was staying at a relative’s house in Eastman ...where everybody knows everybody.” Stewart Cottingham, U.S. Marshals Service
around the globe, is after him, too.
“It’s just a matter of time,” Cottingham said of the efforts of his colleagues. A team of Marshals from South Florida is assigned to find Newsome.
The Sheriff ’s Office asks anyone with information about where Newsome might be to call Detective John Curcio or Detective Walt Foster, at 954-321-4210. Broward Crime Stoppers accepts anonymous tips at 954-493-8477 or browardcrimestoppers.org. Callers with information that leads to an arrest may be eligible for a reward of up to $3,000.