by Investigators investigating a triple homicide that left three rappers dead earlier this year in suburban Detroit said Friday the killings were the result of gang violence and had nothing to do with music.
The bodies of Armani Kelly, of Oscoda, Michigan; Detroit’s Montoya Givens; and Dante Wicker, of Melvindale, Mich.; They were found on February 2 in an abandoned apartment building in the town of Highland Park, 6 miles northwest of Detroit, authorities said the next day.
Citing the need to dispel false rumors, Michigan State Police said Friday: “This was an incident involving gang violence.”
“This homicide was not random,” the agency tweetedadding that it had nothing to do “with music or a performance”.
Kelly’s mother, Lorrie Kemp, has not disputed the gang-related characterization. In February, the Detroit Free Press reported that Kemp alleged that the crime was gang-related retaliation of his son’s time in prison.
Speaking with Detroit’s NBC affiliate WDIV, Kemp said of the triple homicide: “I think it was staged.”
“Did you know Armani was in a gang?” she said in a segment that aired on the station on Friday. “No. Did he join a prison gang? Yes.”
The Detroit News has reported that in 2022, Kelly was released early from prison., where he was detained on a charge of armed robbery. His fiancée, Taylor Perrin, told the publication: “He really changed his life.”
The three disappeared when a performance scheduled for January 21 at a Detroit venue was cancelled. The missing persons case became a homicide investigation when the bodies of the three were found on February 2.
On February 7, police said the cause of death was “multiple gunshot wounds.”
A spokesman for the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office said it had no public information on potential persons of interest.
On Friday, the Michigan State Police, the lead agency investigating the triple homicide, said no one was in custody in the slaying and asked for witnesses and leads that could lead to closure for the victims’ families.
“There are other people who know the details and we need them to come forward,” the agency said.
