Another suspect arrested in 2019 murder of El Paso rapper
Another person was arrested last month in connection with the 2019 fatal shooting of emerging El Paso rap artist T. Kizer Tha Dummy, bringing the total number of arrests to 11, court records show.
The latest suspect to be arrested was Joshua Cecil Davis, 26, in the killing of 20-year-old T. Kizer, whose real name was Terrance Lamont Kinard. The rapper was fatally shot near a house party on Jan. 26, 2019, at Mount Whitney Drive in Northeast El Paso.
Davis, of Grafton, North Dakota, was arrested about 10:30 a.m. Dec. 12 at a home in Grafton without incident, Grafton Police Department officials said in a statement. The arrest came after law enforcement received information Davis was living and working in Grafton, officials said.
The arrest was part of a joint operation between the Grafton Police Department, El Paso Police Department, U.S. Marshal Service, Grand Forks Narcotics Task Force and the High Plains Fugitive Task Force, Grafton Police Department officials said.
Davis was ordered to be extradited Jan. 2 to El Paso from Walsh County, North Dakota, State of North Dakota Courts records show.
He was booked Jan. 6 into the El Paso County Jail, El Paso jail records show. Davis is listed in El Paso court records as a co-defendant in Kinard's death.
Davis is facing one count each of capital murder for retaliation, engaging in organized criminal activity and direct activities of a street gang, court records show.
Davis was indicted Nov. 28 by an El Paso grand jury. The indictment states, Davis “intentionally cause (d) the death of (Terrance Kinard) by shooting Terrance Kinard...in the course of committing or attempting to commit the offense of retaliation against Terrance Kinard.”
The indictment also alleges Davis is “part of identifiable leadership of a criminal street gang” and “knowingly direct(ed) or supervise(d) the commission of the offense of murder by members of the criminal street gang.” The indictment does not name the street gang.
Davis is the 11th person to be arrested in connection with Kinard's death. The other suspects are:
● Miguel Aquino Ferrer
● Obadiah John President
● Deyone Quartaril Bridges
● Marcus Kaleb Moore
● Juan Manuel Noria
● Bryanna Lovett
● Savannah Mariyah Smith
● Jacob Alexander Willis
● David Lee Moore
● Jeremiah Perkins
All of the suspects are charged with one count each of capital murder for retaliation and engaging in organized criminal activity, court records show.
Davis, Bridges, Willis and Marcus Moore are facing an additional charge of direct activities of a street gang, court records show.
El Paso Police Department officials have declined to release the jail booking photos of the suspects since the investigation into Kinard's death is still under investigation.
El Paso Police Department officials did not immediately respond to a request for the release of the other suspects' mugshots.
El Paso rapper fatally shot outside house party
Limited information has been released by the El Paso Police Department regarding Kinard's death.
The shooting happened Jan. 26, 2019, at Mount Whitney Drive in Northeast El Paso.
Most of the information released in the case came from a 2020 Crime Stoppers of El Paso “Crime Files” video.
El Paso Police Department Det. John Armendariz
said in the video that Kinard went to the Northeast neighborhood near where a party was supposed to occur. He walked past the house where the party was supposed to be and spoke to two unidentified men who investigators suspect were the shooters, witnesses told police, according to Armendariz.
“Some kind of exchange happened where a weapon was brandished and Mr. Kinard was fatally shot,” Armendariz said in the 2020 video.
Kinard was shot multiple times before 11:45 p.m. and died at the scene.
Kinard, nicknamed “TK,” was an emerging local rap artist named T. Kizer Tha Dummy.
Kinard, who was from a military family, was originally from Jacksonville,
Florida. He attended Chapin High School in Northeast El Paso, where he was a football player and captain of the baseball team. He graduated from Chapin in 2016, according to El Paso Times archives.
Kinard was a happy-go-lucky person with a passion for rap music who leaves behind two small children and a caring family, his father Terrance Kinard Sr., said in the “Crime Files” video. Kinard Sr. strongly urges his son’s friends to talk to investigators if they have any information.
“Those that know something, please, don’t say that my son is your friend, don’t say you love my son, don’t call me a brother, if you aren’t cooperating with the detectives to bring justice to his name,” Kinard Sr. said in the video.