Approaching the five-year anniversary of XXXTentacion’s death, the men responsible for his demise have just been found guilty.
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On Monday (March 20), Dedrick Williams, Michael Boatwright, and Trayon Newsome were all found guilty of first-degree murder and armed robbery by a Florida jury. Stemming from the incident that ended XXXTentacion’s life in Summer 2018, the trio will not face the death penalty but instead mandatory life sentences, which was recommended by prosecutors.
A fourth assailant, Robert Allen, was also involved in the crime that day. However, in August 2022, he took a plea deal for second-degree murder and aided in the prosecution. Testifying against Williams, Boatwright, and Newsome, Allen said Boatwright was the man who pulled the trigger killing XXXTentacion, and that the plot was Williams’ idea.
The incident took place at a Florida motorcycle shop in June 2018, where the now-slain rapper was shopping for a new bike. Approached by Boatwright and Newsome while in the car with a friend, XXXTentacion was robbed of $50,000 and killed, while Williams awaited his accomplices in the getaway car.
Around the time of his death, the 20-year-old XXXTentacion was coming off the release of his March 2018 studio album ?, which is one of the most streamed albums of all time. Beloved by many young hip-hop fans, the album contained smash hits like “SAD!” and “Moonlight.”
During a 2017 interview with Miami’s 103.5 The Beat, XXXTentacion spoke about his artist name, since most fans could never figure out what it meant.
“XXXTentacion means unknown temptation,” he said. “As far as the significance of the X, for some time, the X was the only unknown numeral to me. It’s like John Doe. John Doe stands for unknown. Tentacion is temptation in Latin, so I actually just pushed the two together and made unknown temptation because I feel like that’s what my life revolves around.”
(Photo By Matias J. Ocner / TNS / ZUMA)
