Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Gunman in XXXTentacion murder arrested, Sheriff ’s Office says
The investigation into the ambush-style murder of South Florida rapper XXXTentacion has zeroed in on three Broward County men – one taken into custody as a getaway driver, another arrested Tuesday as a masked gunman and a third identified as a “person of interest.”
A fourth person, whose name was not released by the Broward Sheriff’s Office, is believed to be a second gunman.
Michael Boatwright, 22, on Tuesday became the second person charged in the June 18 slaying of the 20-year-old Parkland resident whose given name was Jahseh Onfroy.
Boatwright was one of two mask-wearing armed robbers who ambushed Onfroy as he pulled his $150,000 black BMW i8 out of a motorcycle dealership in Deerfield Beach, said Keyla Concepcion, a spokeswoman for the
sheriff ’s office.
Boatwright, of Fort Lauderdale, was already in jail for a July 5 arrest on an unrelated drug charge when detectives added a first-degree murder charge to his rap sheet. He is being held in the Broward Main Jail and is expected to make a court appearance today.
The first arrest in the case was made two days after the murder.
Dedrick Devonshay Williams, 22, a tattoo artist who calls himself Tattooman Chucky, was arrested as he left his Pompano Beach home. Investigators say he drove the SUV that blocked Onfroy’s car while the gunmen rushed the rapper in his driver’s seat just after 4 p.m. on that Monday.
Surveillance video from RIVA Motorsports shows that two minutes after Onfroy got there, a dark-colored SUV arrived and parked in the dealer’s lot.
Two men got out of the SUV and entered the store, one wearing a white tank top, another wearing a dark T-shirt. The man in the white tank, later identified as Williams, paid cash for a black neoprene mask, and the men left the store, an arrest warrant said.
They returned to the SUV, and backed it into a homeowner’s driveway opposite the motorcycle dealership’s north gate.
The SUV pulled in front of Onfroy’s BMW when it began to leave, and two armed men confronted the rapper. At least one of them fired, striking him multiple times. Before fleeing, they snatched from the BMW a Louis Vuitton bag, possibly containing cash, according to the sheriff ’s office.
Onfroy was taken to Broward Health North in Deerfield Beach where he was pronounced dead.
A person of interest, identified as Robert Allen, 22, of Fort Lauderdale, was seen on surveillance video at RIVA Motorsports on the same day Onfroy was killed. Investigators want to find out what he may know about the murder.
Allen is also wanted in Broward County on a felony warrant for violation of probation for drug possession and carrying a concealed firearm.
The Sheriff ’s Office has not released arrest reports in the case and has been tight-lipped about details.
Sheriff Scott Israel said sealing those records was part of the investigators’ strategy, and that with two suspects still at large – Allen and the unnamed second gunman – the arrest report would remain sealed for now.
“We’re not releasing any information about it because we’re still looking for two other suspects, including Robert Allen,” Israel said. “If we release more information about the case, it may hamper detectives’ ability or impede their progress to make those other arrests and take those two individuals into custody.”
Detectives urge anyone with information to contact Detectives Walt Foster or John Curcio at 954-321-4210.
Broward County Crime Stoppers accepts anonymous information at 954-493-8477 or at browardcrimestoppers.org. Tips that lead to an arrest are eligible for a reward of up to $3,000.