Rapper YNW Melly faces death penalty

Emerging evidence convicts the 19-year-old of double homicide

Elizabeth Humphreys, Reporter

Being prosecuted and put in front of the death row, 19-year-old rapper YNW Melly is being charged for the double homicide of two men. The murders occurring in Vero Beach, Florida last year on Oct. 26, there is emerging forensic evidence that Melly shot and killed the men while then staging the scene to look like a hit-and-run.

Melly “committed premeditated murder in a cold and calculated manner for financial gain,” according to the Broward State Attorney’s Office, which filed a notice to seek the death penalty last Thurs. Prosecutors believe that they can prove beyond reasonable doubt that Melly is responsible for the murders of Anthony Williams, age 21, and Christopher Thomas Jr., age 19.

The day after the incident, Melly mourned his “brothers” with an Instagram post that read, “They Took My Brothers From Me Over Jealousy.” “I know y’all watching over me,” he wrote.

Ironically famous for his hit single, “Murder on Mind,” Melly released this song much before the murders he committed. The lyrics focus on a detailed, literal murder, which Melly himself had committed.

“Yellow tape around his body, it’s a f**king homicide/His face is on a T-shirt and his family traumatized/I didn’t even mean to shoot him, he just caught me by surprise/I reloaded my pistol, cocked it back, and shot him twice/His body dropped down to the floor and he got teardrops in his eyes/He grabbed me by my hands and said he was afraid to die/I told him it’s too late, my friend, it’s time to say goodbye/And he died inside my arms, blood all on my shirt,” he wrote.

Before Melly’s arrest, he had just began a concert tour across the country, and had a clear road to a prevalent career that he will now never be able to continue.