XXXTentacion died on June 18, 2018, after being shot during an armed robbery outside RIVA Motorsports, a motorcycle dealership in the Deerfield Beach area of Broward County, Florida. The 20-year-old rapper, whose legal name was Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy, had just withdrawn roughly $50,000 in cash from a bank when two masked gunmen blocked his BMW, shot him three times in the neck, and fled with the money.1NBC Miami. Plea Deal Struck in 2018 Murder of Rapper XXXTentacion in Pompano Beach He was pronounced dead at a Fort Lauderdale-area hospital that evening.2Pollstar. Authorities Confirm XXXTentacion Shot Dead in Florida Four men were later charged; three were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison, and a fourth pleaded guilty to a reduced charge.
What Happened at RIVA Motorsports
Onfroy and a friend, Leonard Kerr, had been shopping for a motorcycle at the dealership on North Dixie Highway that afternoon. The cash Onfroy had withdrawn earlier was in a Louis Vuitton bag visible inside the car.3Miami Herald. XXXTentacion Murder Investigation Details
Shortly before 4:00 p.m., as the two tried to leave in Onfroy’s black BMW i8, a 2017 Dodge Journey SUV pulled in front of them and cut off their exit.4NBC Miami. 3 Convicted in South Florida Murder of Rapper XXXTentacion Sentenced to Life in Prison Two masked men jumped out with guns drawn. According to Kerr’s trial testimony, the taller gunman ordered him not to move while the second reached in and ripped a gold chain from Onfroy’s neck. Kerr said Onfroy asked, “What’s this for?”5Oxygen. XXXTentacion’s Friend Testifies at Murder Trial
When neither attacker answered, Kerr ran. As he looked back, one of the gunmen was pointing a weapon directly at Onfroy. Kerr heard at least two shots. The attackers grabbed the bag of cash, got back in the SUV, and drove off.6NBC Miami. XXXTentacion Murder Trial: What to Know as Jury Deliberates Surveillance cameras at the dealership captured the whole encounter.
Cause of Death
A Broward County associate medical examiner testified that Onfroy was struck three times in the neck, with the entry wounds only centimeters apart. One projectile remained lodged in his body. A firearms expert concluded that all three rounds came from the same .22 long rifle caliber weapon.7NBC Miami. Medical Examiner and Firearms Expert Testify in XXXTentacion Murder Trial
How Investigators Identified the Killers
The Broward Sheriff’s Office built its case on video and digital records. Cameras at RIVA Motorsports captured the shooting itself, and earlier footage from that afternoon showed two of the suspects, Dedrick Williams and Robert Allen, walking through the shop at 3:32 p.m. as if scouting it.8Miami Herald. XXXTentacion Murder Suspect Details
Cellphone evidence tied the group together after the killing. Photos on Michael Boatwright’s phone from that same evening showed Boatwright and Trayvon Newsome holding stacks of $100 bills. A separate video that night showed Williams with a large amount of cash. Investigators also found that Boatwright had searched Google for “accessory to murder” eleven days after the murder.3Miami Herald. XXXTentacion Murder Investigation Details
The getaway SUV had been rented on June 17 through the car-sharing app Turo for $60 by a woman named Tony Robinson, a close friend of Williams. She told investigators she had handed the vehicle to Robert Allen and never got it back. Newsome and Allen were in that same rental later on the night of the killing when it was involved in a hit-and-run. The next day, Williams went on a spending spree, buying $800 worth of clothes in Fort Lauderdale while wearing the same orange sandals seen on the dealership’s surveillance footage.8Miami Herald. XXXTentacion Murder Suspect Details9Local 10. XXXTentacion Murder Trial Continues
The Four Men Charged
Williams was arrested first, on June 20, 2018, two days after the murder.10Rolling Stone. Police Arrest Suspect in XXXTentacion Murder Boatwright and Allen were arrested in the following weeks. Newsome, the last of the four, surrendered at his lawyer’s office in Fort Lauderdale on August 7, 2018.11WLRN. The Fourth Suspect in the Murder of Rapper XXXTentacion Surrenders All four faced first-degree murder and armed robbery charges. Prosecutors described their roles this way:
- Dedrick Williams drove the getaway SUV and boxed in Onfroy’s BMW.
- Michael Boatwright was the triggerman who approached the driver’s side and fired the fatal shots.
- Trayvon Newsome was the second armed man during the confrontation and took possession of the cash.
- Robert Allen was a participant in the robbery and was in the SUV during the attack.12Oxygen. Jury Convicts 3 of Murder in Death of Rapper XXXTentacion
Convictions and Life Sentences
Williams, Boatwright, and Newsome were tried together in Broward County Circuit Court before Judge Michael Usan, who rejected a defense request to sever the cases. The trial ran through early 2023, with closing arguments on March 8.13Rolling Stone. XXXTentacion’s Convicted Killers Sentenced to Life in Prison Prosecutors leaned on the surveillance video, cellphone records, the photos and videos of the defendants with cash after the killing, and testimony from Allen. Defense attorneys argued there was no DNA linking the defendants to the scene.14NBC Miami. XXXTentacion Murder Trial Entering Final Phase
After about seven days of deliberation, the jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts on March 20, 2023, convicting each defendant of first-degree murder and armed robbery.15Court TV. Jury Convicts 3 of Murder in Death of Rapper XXXTentacion Because prosecutors had not sought the death penalty, the first-degree murder convictions carried mandatory life sentences without parole. Judge Usan formally imposed those sentences on April 6, 2023.4NBC Miami. 3 Convicted in South Florida Murder of Rapper XXXTentacion Sentenced to Life in Prison Boatwright received an additional consecutive 30-year sentence for violating probation in a prior case.
At sentencing, Judge Usan told Boatwright, “You turned a robbery into a murder. On that day, when you stood there and fired that weapon you ended five lives, including your own.” To Williams, he said: “A person with any decency would not have been seen dancing around with stolen money (to show) how proud they were.”16CBS News Miami. 3 Suspects Convicted in Murder of XXXTentacion Face Sentencing
Robert Allen’s Plea Deal
Allen took a different path. In August 2022, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and robbery with a firearm in exchange for cooperating with prosecutors.17CBS News Miami. Jury Returns Guilty Verdict in 2018 Murder of XXXTentacion He became the state’s key witness at trial, describing how the group planned the robbery after spotting Onfroy inside the shop. Defense attorneys attacked him as “a liar trying to avoid a life sentence.”18NBC Miami. Suspect Who Took Plea Deal in 2018 Murder of Rapper XXXTentacion Sentenced
On May 17, 2023, Judge Usan sentenced Allen to seven years in prison followed by 20 years of probation. With credit for the roughly five years he had already spent in the Broward County jail awaiting trial, Allen had about two years of prison time left to serve.19KRQE. 4th XXXTentacion Killer Gets Reduced Sentence After Taking Plea Deal
Boatwright’s Appeal
Boatwright challenged his conviction in Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal, arguing that the trial court wrongly denied his motion to sever, wrongly admitted certain hearsay, wrongly denied motions to suppress DNA and cellphone evidence, and wrongly limited his cross-examination of Allen. On July 9, 2025, the appellate court affirmed the conviction and life sentence, finding no abuse of discretion by the trial court and concluding that any alleged errors were harmless in light of what it called “substantial evidence of guilt.”20FindLaw. Michael Boatwright v. State of Florida, 4D2023-0975
His Own Pending Cases at the Time of His Death
When he was killed, Onfroy was awaiting trial on separate criminal charges. He had been arrested in October 2016 in Miami-Dade County and charged with aggravated battery of a pregnant woman, domestic battery by strangulation, false imprisonment, and witness tampering, based on allegations by a former girlfriend.21Billboard. Ahead of XXXTentacion Domestic Violence Trial He pleaded not guilty and denied the allegations. Seven additional felony charges, including witness tampering and witness harassment, were added in December 2017.22People. XXXTentacion Back in Jail on 7 New Felony Charges All of those cases were closed after his death. After he died, a 27-minute recording that both prosecutors and defense attorneys viewed as a confession to domestic abuse surfaced publicly.23Pitchfork. XXXTentacion Confessed to Domestic Abuse on Secret Recording Those charges were unrelated to his killing, which prosecutors treated throughout as a targeted robbery for the $50,000 he had just withdrawn.