The distraught mother of a murdered rapper said she warned him to take down a post bragging about how his girlfriend shot dead a robber just hours before he was killed in an alleged revenge shooting.
Bernita Ward said she believes her son, whose rap name was BTB Savage, was killed in ‘retaliation’ for interviews and Instagram posts in which he boasted of fighting off an attempted robbery at his home.
Her son, whose real name is Darrell Gentry, was gunned down in the exclusive River Oaks city near Fort Worth in Texas on Thursday.
Earlier this week, Gentry, 26, who had a four-year-old son and served in the military for four years, gave a now-viral interview with VLAD-TV, describing how and his girlfriend fought off an attempted robbery at his apartment in February.
Rapper BTB Savage (above), real name Darrell Gentry, posted this picture to his Instagram showing himself at the bloody aftermath of an alleged attempted robbery at his apartment
Gentry’s mother, Bernita Ward (above), said she told him to remove the post just hours before he was shot dead in what she believes was a revenge killing
Then on Thursday, he posted a picture to his Instagram account showing him standing in the middle of the bloody crime scene.
Hours later, he was shot dead, Houston police said.
Ms Ward said she warned him to stop posting on social media and doing interviews about the deadly gun fight.
‘I said take that off social media,’ she told ABC13. ‘Let this family mourn in peace. They were taunting my son, though, telling him they were going to kill the family, make his momma cry, and kill his son. I told my son, “Don’t respond. Let it go”. But their family members came to rob my son.’
She added that she had no doubts that her son’s murder was linked to the robbery.
In his interview with VLAD-TV, Gentry had said a group had contacted him asking about getting involved in a song, which he thought may ignite his rap career.
Instead, they turned up to his apartment in San Antonio and tried to rob him.
He described how he instructed his girlfriend to shoot the alleged intruder.
Gentry said the supposed robber pleaded with him for mercy and said he ‘had kids too’, but he told him: ‘I don’t give a f*** about you. You’re going to die.’
Gentry said he thought the group who turned up at his apartment wanted him to feature in a rap, but it turned into an attempted robbery in which the assailant was shot dead
In a viral interview, Gentry said the alleged intruder begged for his life but he told him ‘you’re going to die’
When asked if he was concerned about retaliation, Gentry said: ‘They might do what they do, but I’m going to get active. That’s all that it is.’
Police at the crime scene where Gentry was gunned down in a drive-by shooting on Thursday
He added that his assailant begged for his life as he lay dying on his apartment floor. ‘He like “come on bro take me with you bro I can make it to the hospital, I just need to make it to hospital”.
‘I was like I ain’t taking you to no f****** hospital boy. If they come save you then they come save you. If not then you’re gone. Last day. Last supper. Whoever the f*** you ate before you came here.’
When the interviewer asked if he was concerned about retaliation, he said: ‘They might do what they do, but I’m going to get active. That’s all that it is.’
Houston police say the two suspects accused of shooting Gentry were in a black Subaru, dressed in black with hoodies and shades on. They got out of the vehicle and fled on San Felipe, police told ABC13.
There have been a spate of gun deaths involving US rappers in recent years. Earlier this month, three men were found guilty of first-degree murder on Monday in the 2018 killing of star rapper XXXTentacion, who was shot outside a South Florida motorcycle shop while being robbed of $50,000.
In 2022, 20-year-old rapper Baby Cino was shot and killed during a highway ambush just minutes after being released from a Florida jail.
