Houston police charged one of 2 men wanted in the drive-by murder of aspiring rapper BTB Savage.
Montrel Lenard Burley, 40, was charged with killing BTB Savage, real name Darrell Gentry, on March 30. Burley and another suspect are both still at large.
RELATED: Aspiring rapper gunned down after he bragged about killing a man in self-defense (Video)
Gentry was killed about an hour after he posted photos of himself at the bloody scene where his girlfriend shot and killed a man in self-defense in February.
In an interview with DJ Vlad, of VladTV.com, Gentry said his girlfriend killed Omar Richardson, who posed as a rap collaborator and tried to rob him in his home.
After Richardson and his nephew entered Gentry’s home, they surveyed the interior, which made Gentry nervous. When the nephew left to retrieve something from his car, Gentry locked the front door and put his gun on a table as a warning to Richardson.
Richardson then grabbed the gun off the table and Gentry and Richardson struggled for control of the gun. Gentry called out to his girlfriend to shoot Richardson.
Gentry’s girlfriend emerged from a back bedroom with a gun and fired wildly, killing Richardson and striking Gentry in the left elbow.
Vlad asked Gentry if he was concerned about retaliation from Richardson’s crew. Gentry replied, “They might do what they do, but I’m going to get active. That’s all that it is.”
Gentry, 26, went viral last month after he posted images of himself standing in a pool of dried blood in his kitchen.
TOO MUCH MOTION?? pic.twitter.com/yom8OcpYUj
— Btb Savage (@btb_savage) March 30, 2023
An hour later, Gentry was driving a white Mercedes, when two suspects pulled up in a black Subaru vehicle. Multiple shots were fired from the Subaru. Then the two suspects sped off.
Sources say the killers returned to the scene and recorded cellphone video of Gentry lying dead in the street near his bullet-riddled Mercedes.
The video was uploaded to Instagram and Twitter, allegedly by the killers.
Gentry’s grieving mother, Bernita Ward, told ABC13 that her son was set up by a friend. She said her son texted her from a restaurant and told her he was being set up.
Ward said Gentry served in the military for 4 years and was a devoted father to a 4-year-old son, whom she adores.
Ward said she tried to warn Gentry not to post anything online. She believes he was killed in retaliation for posting the photos of the bloody scene on his social media.
“I said take that off social media,” Ward 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 member came to rob my son.”
She said Gentry’s online persona is not the man she knew. Ward said she never referred to Gentry as “BTB Savage.”
“I never refer to him as BTB Savage, the Instagram mogul,” Ward said. “I am not one of those parents to cover up your child’s lifestyle.”
Watch DJ Vlad’s interview with the late BTB Savage below.
