N***** tried to run
I hit his back
Though I shoot like a mac
Dirt ass dead n*****knowing where to find me at
Those are the lyrics of a rap song that authorities say 19-year-old La’Darion Chandler allegedly wrote and performed after shooting a rival gang member in the back late last year, WPEC-TV reports.
The Florida teen, who posted a video of the rap song on social media, now faces a murder charge in connection with the December 2022 shooting after the victim, 33-year-old John McGee, died as a result of his injuries and from not taking his medication.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd had choice words for the self-proclaimed teen rapper, calling him a coward and poor musician.
“Now, first off. Come on, man. You shoot someone else in the back? What kind of coward is that?” Judd said at a press conference. “He’s just a terrible rapper. But he’s a stupid rapper because, you know, he not only makes him a rap video about shooting somebody. He admits to shooting the guy in the back. I’m a coward rapper. That’s what I am.”
Authorities linked Chandler to the shooting in February only after he was arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Chandler allegedly pointed a gun at someone and threatened them near the area where McGee was shot. Investigators later searched McGee’s apartment and came upon the rap video on a social media page.
At the time of the shooting, Chandler was prohibited by law from possessing a firearm. His criminal record spans seven felony arrests and five misdemeanor arrests, including juvenile convictions for grand theft of a motor vehicle, vehicle burglary and fleeing to elude, according to FOX 13.
Chandler was reportedly defiant initially but he opened up when confronted with the murder charge.
“When we laid that first-degree murder warrant on him, subsequent to that, he started crying like a baby that lost his pacifier, and ostensibly his gun was his pacifier,” Judd said of Chandler at the press conference. “He bragged that he carried a gun all the time, and he would shoot it at his rivals.”
McGee’s mother reportedly urged law enforcement to discuss the case because she is trying to put an end to gang violence. “He’s a troublemaker, make no mistake about it. But he shouldn’t have died,” Judd said of the victim.
A $5,000 reward is being offered to locate the gun Chandler allegedly used to shoot McGee, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
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[Featured image: La’Darion Chandler/Polk County Sheriff’s Office]
