Up and Coming Rapper Charged with The Murder of His Friends


YNW MellyUPDATED: 2019/02/15 12:00 PM

Though publicly mourning the loss of two of his close friends, Anthony Williams and Christopher Thomas Jr., on Instagram who died in October, YNW Melly, a rising Florida rapper, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with two counts of murder.

Police say that YNW Melly fatally shot his friends and then staged the crime scene to look like a drive-by shooting.

The arrest of YNW Melly, whose legal name is Jamell Demons, delivers a seemingly significant halt to what what appeared to be an up-and-coming career, to include a just beginning concert tour across the country, a recent collaboration with famed artist, Kayne West, and his Instagram was full of the trappings of hip-hop stardom.

The investigation turned toward YNW Melly after another member of his posse, Cortlen Henry, gave a statement to police in which the facts discovered during the preliminary investigation did not match what was being presented to detectives. Further investigation and forensic evidence found that YNW Melly shot and killed Williams and Thomas, and that YNW Melly and Henry then staged the scene to resemble a drive-by shooting, police said.

YNW Melly was given no bond, according to online court records.