Rapper 23 Brazy Arrested For 10-Year-Old's Murder After Dodging Police For Months
Rapper 23 Brazy was taken into police custody for her alleged involvement in the Franklin shooting last year.
On Tuesday, the rapper -- real name Tashawnda Nicole Drayton -- was arrested in the 3200 block of Brookside Drive at Brookside Square Apartments in Boykins, Virginia, after being on the run for months after allegedly killing 10-year-old La'Marj Holden and injuring a 37-year-old man in a shooting incident in August 2023, WTKR News 3 reported.
"Her family member came out, and I heard Drayton's voice from the top of the stairs saying she was coming out, and she came down the stairs and surrendered," Robert Bowers of the U.S. Marshals Service told WTKR News 3 of Drayton's arrest, saying that a relative was hiding her.
The woman accused of killing a 10-year-old boy in Franklin, who's been on the run for months, was arrested on Tuesday.
— WTKR News 3 (@WTKR3) June 18, 2024
Tashawnda Drayton, also known as "23 Brazy," was wanted on charges of first-degree murder in connection to the death of 10-year-old La'Marj Holden. pic.twitter.com/n3Br9SNe9o
"They could be charged with harboring a fugitive or aiding and abetting a fugitive," Bowers added.
Aside from the first-degree murder charges, she was reportedly charged with "attempted first-degree murder, aggravated malicious wounding, two counts of shooting into an occupied dwelling, and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, threat to burn or damage a building, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and discharge a firearm in a public place."
The shooting Drayton was involved in took place on Aug. 9, 2023. At the time, four people, including the rapper, reportedly showed up in the 300 block of Artis Street and argued with a man. The argument reportedly led to Drayton shooting the man.
"I was sitting in my front room watching TV and I heard 4 or 5 shots, 'bam, bam, bam, bam', about 4 or 5 times. It's really sad, upsetting, sad," said a witness named Betty, who was friends with Holden's grandmother, at the time.
"[As] soon as I looked out the window, a bullet came flying in my room, so I dug down [and] came outside to see what's going on. [The] next thing I see is a little kid laying on the ground shot, killed. Another guy was wounded," recalled a neighbor.
After the shooting incident, a warrant was issued for Drayton's arrest. Before she got arrested on Tuesday, the U.S. Marshals put up a search for her with a $10,000 to $20,000 reward.
