Quando Rondo and King Von: Shooting, Ambush, and Federal Cases

The feud between Quando Rondo and King Von began with a shootout outside an Atlanta hookah lounge in November 2020 that killed Von, and it has since produced a federal murder-for-hire case against Chicago rapper Lil Durk, a separate federal drug conviction for Quando Rondo, and the death of Rondo’s cousin in a 2022 Los Angeles ambush that prosecutors say was ordered as revenge.

The Night King Von Was Killed

Around 3 a.m. on November 6, 2020, a fight in the parking lot of the Monaco Hookah Lounge on Trinity Avenue in Atlanta turned into a shootout. Six people were wounded and three were killed, including 26-year-old Dayvon Bennett, the Chicago rapper known as King Von.¹ Von was not at the scene when officers arrived; he was driven to a hospital in a private vehicle and pronounced dead there.²

An off-duty Atlanta police officer working security and a patrolling officer both discharged their weapons during the chaos, but the Atlanta Police Department said Von was struck during the initial exchange between the two groups, before officers fired.¹

The two groups were the entourages of King Von and Quando Rondo, the Savannah rapper whose legal name is Tyquian Bowman. Von was signed to Lil Durk’s Chicago collective Only the Family (OTF); Rondo was affiliated with NBA YoungBoy’s Never Broke Again label.³ Tensions between the two camps had escalated through social media after Von publicly criticized YoungBoy’s music. Two days before the shooting, Von told an interviewer he had “no beef” with YoungBoy and called the rivalry internet-driven.

The Shooter and Why the Charges Were Dropped

On November 7, 2020, Atlanta police announced a warrant for Timothy Leeks, a friend of Quando Rondo known as “Lul Tim.” Leeks was charged with felony murder and was already being treated at Grady Memorial Hospital for a gunshot wound of his own.¹ He posted a $100,000 bond and was released from Fulton County Jail in March 2021.⁴

On August 20, 2023, Leeks’ attorney Noah Pines confirmed the felony murder charge had been dismissed. “The case against Mr. Leeks was dismissed prior to ever being indicted,” Pines said.⁵ Reporting indicated prosecutors had concluded the shooting was self-defense and that the evidence would not support a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt.⁶ Quando Rondo had said publicly in 2021 that his group acted in self-defense. No one else was ever charged in Von’s death.

The 2022 Los Angeles Ambush

Federal prosecutors say Von’s death set off a retaliation campaign in which Lil Durk placed a bounty on Quando Rondo’s life and used OTF resources to organize a murder-for-hire plot.⁷

According to the indictment, five co-conspirators flew from Chicago to San Diego on August 18, 2022, using one-way tickets paid for with credit cards linked to OTF and Lil Durk. In Los Angeles, top OTF associate Kavon London Grant allegedly supplied firearms, including a fully automatic machine gun, along with ski masks, hotel rooms, and two luxury sedans.⁸ The following day, the group tracked Rondo and his cousin Saviay’a Robinson to a gas station near the Beverly Center mall, where three men opened fire on Rondo’s vehicle and discharged at least 18 rounds.⁷

Rondo survived. Robinson, 24, also known as “Lul Pab” or “Bandup Pablo,” was killed.⁹ Robinson was a Savannah native who had been running a trucking business and a French bulldog kennel.¹⁰ Quando Rondo mourned him publicly on Instagram with a photo captioned “My Cuz.”

The Federal Case Against Lil Durk

Lil Durk, whose legal name is Durk Banks, was arrested near Miami International Airport on October 24, 2024, as he was allegedly about to leave the country on a private jet routed through Dubai, Switzerland, and Italy.³ Five co-defendants were arrested in Chicago the same day: Kavon London Grant, Deandre Dontrell Wilson, Keith Jones, David Brian Lindsey, and Asa Houston.¹¹

A November 7, 2024 superseding indictment named Banks as the lead defendant. All six were charged with conspiracy, use of interstate facilities to commit murder-for-hire resulting in death, and discharging firearms (including a machine gun) in furtherance of a crime of violence resulting in death. Jones faced an additional count of machine gun possession. Each defendant faces a statutory maximum of life in federal prison if convicted.⁷

The indictment lays out specific roles. Grant traveled with Durk to California on a private jet and used a credit card in Durk’s name to pay for hotel rooms and ski masks. Wilson allegedly paid the bounty to the shooters. Jones and Lindsey allegedly fired on Rondo’s vehicle along with an unnamed third gunman.¹² Prosecutors quoted a text from Durk instructing an associate: “Don’t book no flights under no names involved wit me.”⁷

Racketeering Added

The government’s case has grown. A second superseding indictment on May 1, 2025, added stalking resulting in death.¹³ A third superseding indictment on June 3, 2026, added murder in aid of racketeering and conspiracy to commit stalking, and folded in earlier allegations: a January 2022 killing of a rival gang member in Chicago, for which prosecutors say Durk offered a financial reward and afterward brought $1 million in cash to a music studio, and a February 2019 attempted murder in Atlanta tied to a stolen car dispute.¹⁴ Prosecutors now characterize OTF as a criminal organization engaged in murder, robbery, and drug trafficking, and revised a firearms count to tie it to the racketeering charge in response to a recent Supreme Court ruling.¹⁵

Trial Date and the Lyrics Ruling

Lil Durk has pleaded not guilty and has been held without bond since his arrest. Trial was originally set for January 2026, moved to April, then to August. As of June 2026, it is scheduled to start on August 20, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.¹⁶ None of the five co-defendants have entered plea deals or been identified as cooperating witnesses.¹⁷

In February 2026, U.S. District Judge Michael Fitzgerald ruled that prosecutors may play jurors lyrics from “Who Want Smoke??” and “Ahhh Ha,” finding that references to revenge for “Von” made them more probative than prejudicial. The judge excluded lyrics from “Hanging With Wolves” as impermissible character evidence and barred a song called “Beverly Hills” because prosecutors could not establish when it was written or tie its content to the case.¹⁸ Defense counsel have called the lyrics hyperbolic “poetry” carrying an extraordinary risk of prejudice.¹⁹

Durk’s attorneys, Drew Findling and Brian Steel, have called the June 2026 superseding indictment a “pathetic pivot” and “lipstick on a pig,” arguing prosecutors are recycling old accusations to shore up a weak case just before trial. They maintain Durk did not finance, direct, or take part in any violence.¹⁴

Quando Rondo’s Federal Drug Case

While the Los Angeles case moved forward, Quando Rondo faced separate federal charges in Georgia. A December 20, 2023 indictment in the Southern District of Georgia charged Bowman and five co-defendants with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine, fentanyl, and marijuana, with the conspiracy alleged to have begun in January 2021.²⁰

In August 2024, Bowman pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to distribute marijuana; the government dropped the methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine portions of the charge.²¹ On December 12, 2024, Judge R. Stan Baker sentenced him to 33 months in federal prison and a $40,000 fine.²²

After roughly 15 months at FCI Edgefield in South Carolina, Bowman was transferred on May 27, 2026, to an Atlanta halfway house run by the Bureau of Prisons’ Residential Reentry Management office, following a five-month sentence reduction. His full release is scheduled for November 11, 2026. He also faces a separate criminal case in California, on which public reporting has been limited.²³

The parking lot fight in Atlanta has now generated federal cases in two jurisdictions and claimed at least two more lives beyond King Von’s. The August 2026 trial will test whether prosecutors can prove the chain of retaliation they allege, from a bounty on Quando Rondo to the bullets that killed his cousin at a Los Angeles gas station.

1
NPR. King Von, Emerging Chicago Rapper, Dead at 26
2
CNN. Atlanta King Von Killed in Shootout
3
Complex. Lil Durk Indictment Quando Rondo
4
XXL Magazine. King Von Lul Tim Charges Dropped
5
Yahoo Entertainment. Lawyer Confirms Charges Against Lul Tim Dropped
6
Complex. King Von’s Alleged Killer Charges Dropped
7
U.S. Department of Justice. Chicago Rapper Lil Durk Charged in Superseding Indictment Alleging Murder-for-Hire Plot
8
NBC Los Angeles. Lil Durk Charged in 2022 Los Angeles Killing
9
Billboard. Lil Durk Murder-for-Hire Trial Postponed Again
10
Savannah Morning News. Savannah Rapper Quando Rondo Cousin Saviay’a Robinson Murdered in Los Angeles
11
VPM/NPR. Grammy-Winning Rapper Lil Durk Is Charged in Murder-for-Hire Conspiracy
12
Newsweek. Lil Durk Murder-for-Hire Arrest Update Co-Conspirators
13
NBC Chicago. Lil Durk Wants Murder-for-Hire Case Tossed
14
Rolling Stone. Lil Durk Murder-for-Hire Trial Racketeering Count
15
eurweb. Lil Durk Expanded Federal Racketeering Case Trial
16
LA Magazine. Lil Durk Hit With New Racketeering Murder Charge as Feds Expand Murder-for-Hire Case
17
CourtListener. United States v. Grant Docket
18
Billboard. Lil Durk Trial Song Lyrics Jury Hear Court
19
Rolling Stone. Lil Durk Lyrics Evidence Murder-for-Hire Trial
20
U.S. Department of Justice. Multiple Charged in Newly Unsealed Indictment Charging Savannah Drug Trafficking
21
Savannah Morning News. Quando Rondo Pleads Guilty to Drug Conspiracy, Will Remain Out on Bond
22
USA Today. Quando Rondo Sentence 33 Months
23
Rolling Stone. Quando Rondo Released From Prison to Halfway House