From left: Montoya Givens, 31, Dante Wicker, 31, and Armani Kelly, 27, were shot and killed after their disappearance on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2023. (Detroit Police Department)
The fatal shootings of three missing rappers whose bodies were found in an abandoned Michigan apartment were gang-related, police said this week.
Armani Kelly, 27, Montoya Givens, 31, and Dante Wicker, 31, disappeared on Jan. 21 when they were set to perform at a show that was canceled at Lounge 31 in Detroit. Their bodies were found in an apartment basement.
Michigan State Police tweeted that the case was a gang violence-related incident and urged the people who know about it to come forward.
“We know there are a lot of media/social media rumors about this investigation,” the agency said. “While we have to keep some things private, we know a couple of things: There is no one in custody for this homicide. This homicide was not random and had nothing to do with music or a performance.”
Givens’ mother, Catina Fogle, told NBC Detroit affiliate WDIV-TV she didn’t know why someone would target her son. She told the news station he had been trying to get his life back on track after serving a prison sentence for the carjacking of a pastor.
“I have not been watching no news, and I have not been on social media,” she told the station. “All I know is that my son was found in that apartment building and dead. I’m just now hearing about them finding, I guess, two or three people that’s supposed to be involved. I have no clue.”
“What everybody is saying that it’s gang-related, I don’t know if it’s gang-related or not,” she added.
Details about the case were sketchy. Police said the victims’ bodies were found on Feb. 2 in a frigid, rat-infested apartment basement in Highland Park, near Detroit.
The victims had served time in prison. Kelly and Givens were on parole at the time of their disappearance, according to the state Corrections Department, the Associated Press reported.
The men met in prison, the Detroit News reported. Kelly, 27, of Oscoda, performed under the alias Marley Whoop. Wicker, 31, of Melvindale, used the stage name “B12,” the newspaper reported.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
