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Beverly Grove shooting: Rapper Lil Durk charged with self-inflicted murder that left Quando Rondo’s cousin dead near Beverly Center
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Beverly Grove shooting: Rapper Lil Durk charged with self-inflicted murder that left Quando Rondo’s cousin dead near Beverly Center

LOS ANGELES — Grammy Award-winning rapper Lil Durk has been arrested in Florida on federal charges that he paid for the attempted revenge killing of rapper Quando Rondo in 2022 at a Los Angeles gas station, a shooting that left Rondo’s cousin dead.

Durk, 32, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder on his own behalf in the slaying of Saviay’a Robinson, 24, who was shot on Aug. 19, 2022, according to a statement on his own FBI liability released Friday.

Five other members of Durk’s Chicago-based rap collective, “Only the Family,” or “OTF,” were also arrested, and at least two more arrests are expected, according to court filings. Durk was arrested Thursday night in South Florida while trying to flee the country, the FBI says.

Durk, whose real name is Durk Banks, won a Grammy earlier this year for Best Melodic Rap Performance for his song “All My Life,” which featured J. Cole. He was also nominated three times and was a featured performer on Drake’s “Laugh Now Cry Later.”

FBI Agent Sarah Corcoran said in her affidavit that OTF members engage in “violence, including murder and assault, under the direction of the banks and to maintain their status in the OTF.”

READ MORE | Police seek 3 suspects after man killed in shooting at gas station near Beverly Center

Durk’s representatives did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment Friday.

According to Corcoran’s affidavit and other federal court records, the shooting stems from the November 2020 slaying of OTF rapper King Von, 26, at an Atlanta nightclub after Von and Rondo argued. Records say a friend of Rondo’s pulled a gun and shot Von multiple times, killing him. Von, whose real name was Dayvon Bennett, had two hit singles, Crazy Story and “Took Her to the O.”

Authorities say Durk made it known he would “pay a reward” to anyone who killed Rondo, whose real name is Tyquian Bowman.

Nearly two years later, a murder plot quickly took place, Corcoran wrote.

On August 18, 2022, Durk’s associates learned that Rondo was staying at a hotel in Los Angeles. That day, Deandre Wilson, Keith Jones, David Lindsey, Asa Houston and an unnamed fifth suspect flew from Chicago to San Diego and then drove to Los Angeles using funds provided by Durk, Corcoran said.

The man who was fatally shot while inside an SUV at a Beverly Grove gas station Friday was a friend of Atlanta rapper Quando Rondo.

That day, Durk allegedly texted an associate arranging flights: “Do not book any flights under any name associated with me.” Corcoran said there is video evidence that Durk was staying at a home in the San Fernando Valley that day.

Once in Los Angeles, the OTF members met Kayon Grant, who had flown there on a private jet. Grant, a top OTF associate, obtained hotel rooms for the men, bought them four ski masks and obtained two luxury sedans, court records say. Grant allegedly gave Jones, Lindsey and a third unnamed suspect weapons, including one that had been converted into a fully automatic machine gun.

The next day, the group followed Rondo and Robinson as they drove a Cadillac Escalade to a marijuana dispensary in Los Angeles, a clothing store in West Hollywood, and then to a gas station across from the Beverly Center.

There, Houston parked his car behind the station so that Jones, Lindsey, and the unnamed defendant could ambush Rondo. They got out and opened fire, killing Robinson, who was sitting in front of the Escalada, but missing Rondo, the indictment and news reports about the shooting say.

The suspects then went to an In-N-Out hamburger stand where they discussed payment with Grant and then flew home to Chicago from San Diego, Corcoran and other documents say. Wilson later paid Jones and Lindsey an undisclosed amount.

Grant, Jones. Lindsey, Wilson and Houston were arrested Thursday in Chicago on conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire charges. Attorney information for the men was not immediately available in court records.

After the arrests, Corcoran wrote, Durk booked two flights from South Florida airports — one to Dubai and one to Switzerland. He then booked a private flight to Italy, but was arrested in Miami before he could board that flight.

Durk and the other defendants are being held pending their transfer to Los Angeles.

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