Brandoniya Bennett, left inset, Tyrese Simmons, right inset. (Crime scene and Brandoniya Bennett inset screenshots from Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA; Simmons mugshot from Tulsa Police Department)
An aspiring rapper who cut his ankle monitor and fled before his murder trial after allegedly mistakenly firing into a wrong apartment he thought was his rival’s and killing a 9-year-old girl with a bullet to the head has been captured in Oklahoma.
Tyrese Simmons, 23, was booked into the Tulsa County Jail on Thursday after an hourslong standoff with police at a hotel, police said. He faces a capital murder charge in the 2019 death of Brandoniya Bennett, who was getting ready for her first day of fourth grade when she was killed.
During the standoff, police tried to get Simmons out of a room, but he refused. After making commands and trying to get Simmons out for several hours, officers fired pepper balls, and he was taken into custody, authorities said.
He will be extradited to Dallas soon, officials said.
The shooting happened on Aug. 14, 2019, after police alleged Simmons mistakenly fired at the wrong apartment unit after a social media feud with another rapper escalated.
The girl’s family was devastated. Family members said she had just gotten her nails and was excited to start the fourth grade.
“I looked down at the floor where my daughter sat holding her baby girl, her only baby girl, in a puddle of blood because they stole her life,” Tonya Elder told Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA.
Simmons turned himself in the next day. He was granted bond in December 2019 and had been on house arrest with an ankle monitor awaiting trial on June 5.
He was on the run for more than three weeks after a “tamper alert” sounded at around 2:30 a.m. on May 28, warning law enforcement that something was wrong with his ankle monitor.
Another man, Davonte Benton, was convicted on capital murder charges in Brandoniya’s death last year and sentenced to 45 years in prison.
At his trial, his lawyers asked the jury for mercy, saying Benton was not the shooter. His mother testified his father abused him, the Dallas Morning News reported.
“Would it be any different if Davonte was not involved?” Benton’s defense attorney Jeff Boncek said, the paper reported. “The sad answer is, ‘No, it wouldn’t be different.””
Kelly Brennion, an assistant principal at Cesar Chavez Learning Center, testified at the trial that Brandoniya was popular with her teachers and classmates.
“Brandoniya was effervescent,” Brennion said, according to the newspaper. “She was bubbly, and she was sparkly. She was a very happy young girl that had a lot of friends.”
Law&Crime’s Colin Kalmbacher contributed to this report.
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