CLICK HERE if you’re having trouble viewing media on a mobile device.
RICHMOND — A popular Richmond rapper was killed Friday afternoon — in a shooting that injured two others — just minutes after he posted a video of himself standing outside of a liquor store at 4th Street and MacDonald Avenue.
The victim, Lamonta Butcher, 29, rapped under the stage name Tay Way. He was walking down 4th Street a little after noon Friday when the shooter or shooters opened fired from a moving car, police said.
Butcher was a longtime Richmond rapper who rose to local prominence in the early 2010s. Last July, he released the album “Rich City Host.”
Hours after Butcher was killed, friends and family gathered at the scene and watched police process evidence.
“He was a good man,” said Kiana, a childhood friend of Butcher’s who declined to provide her full name. “Just because his music portrayed him different, he was [good], he watched the kids and everything, like, he was really so sweet.”
During his career, Butcher frequently appeared in songs alongside Sirmonte “Sirdy” Bernstine, another Richmond rapper lost to gun violence in 2015.
Minutes before the shooting, Butcher had posted a video from his perspective, standing outside 4th Street Market, which is at the MacDonald intersection. The video did not show street signs, but the building has a distinct red and light yellow paint job that makes it easily identifiable.
A voiceover on the Instagram story, taken from the intro of the song “You Neva Know” by Pittsburg rapper Husalah, says, “Been so long we still out here bruh, you feel me? Same hood, same turf,” as Butcher pans the camera across the intersection.
A few minutes later, Butcher was walking down 4th Street when someone in a passing car opened fire. As the shots rang out, Butcher darted back toward the store but was struck multiple times, according to family members.
Two others injured in the shooting are expected to survive, though one was taken to a hospital by helicopter.
A surveillance camera was pointed at the site of the shooting from a short distance away, but it is unknown whether investigators have obtained any video. Police have not released any suspect information or vehicle description. A spokesman said detectives are pursuing “active leads” and are aware of the Instagram video.
The past year has seen high profile examples of public figures becoming crime victims due to personal details they inadvertently exposed in social media posts. In February, rapper Pop Smoke, aka Bashar Barakah Jackson, was shot and killed in a Hollywood Hills home invasion after posting a package that showed his address. Last October, a stalker of a Japanese pop star used a reflection in her eye from a selfie to track down her residence.
