JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Several key witnesses testified today in the trial of two men charged in the 2020 murder of a local rapper over a diss track.
Charles McCormick Jr., better known as ‘Lil Buck,’ was shot and killed outside of a shopping plaza in Arlington in what investigators believe was gang-related activity.
The state, however, has dropped gang-related charges against the two suspects on trial.
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Hakeem Robinson, also known as KSOO, and Leroy Whitaker Jr. are both charged with 1st degree murder in McCormick Jr’s death. Whitaker is also charged with burglary with assault or battery, and home invasion robbery.
One witness called to the stand says she saw the shooter.
This witness says she was the one who called 911 right after McCormick Jr. was shot and killed. And prosecutors played that frantic 911 call for jurors.
The state asked that we not name or show the witness for safety purposes. She said she worked at the store where McCormick was last seen alive. She describes to jurors what she saw happen after McCormick walked out of her store.
“As he was leaving out an individual was approaching, and as he proceeded to walk off the sidewalk, he recognized someone coming towards him. He looked back and turned, and started to take off running,” said the witness.
The defense attorney for Hakeem Robinson questioned the witness’s description of the suspect she described to jurors.
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“And it was out of the corner of your eye that you saw the shooter, right?” asked Tara Kawass, attorney for Hakeem Robinson.
The witness answered yes.
“And did you notice right before the shots started or after the shots started?”, continued Kawass.
“It happened so quickly,” the witness replied.
“Within seconds, right?” asked Kawass.
“Yes,” the witness answered.
The 2nd witness, whom we are also not identifying for safety purposes, said her home was broken into by two men the day that McCormick Jr. was shot and killed. And she claims she was held hostage for an hour.
The state argues that one of those two men is Leroy Whitaker Jr..
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The witness described the moment she was confronted by these two men in her home.
“I told them to get the F out,” said the witness. “When I realized they weren’t leaving, I was going to try to take off and one of them grabbed me by the one arm, and so there’s an iron railing right by my door, and I grabbed that with my other hand, and I was trying to yell “help,” which is kind of useless in my neighborhood because all of my neighbors work during the day."
She went on to tell jurors that they took her cell phone and changed into her loved one’s clothes before they finally left.
“Tattoo dude ended up he was on top of me and was holding me on the collarbone. The only thing I could think of is, ‘This isn’t going to end this way.’”
After McCormick was shot outside of an Arlington shopping plaza, investigators say the suspects fled in a Nissan Altima and crashed their car in a residential Arlington neighborhood.
Three people are said to have gotten out of the car: Hakeem Robinson, Leroy WhitakerJr and Dominique Barner. Robinson is alleged to have run one way, while Whitaker and Barner ran into a woman’s home.
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The witness describes seeing two men whom she labeled as the tattoo guy and the squirrelly dude inside her house.
Whitaker’s defense attorney questioned the witness’s ability to describe the suspect.
“Now, the other person you describe as a squirrelly dude, you didn’t get a very good look at him, right?” asked Julie Schlax, attorney for Leroy Whitaker.
“Right, correct,” the witness answered.
She was not asked, nor did she identify Whitaker as one of the men who entered her home that day.
Another key witness who testified today was JSO Officer J.L. Collins. He is the officer who allegedly chased the suspects in the Nissan Altima the day the shooting happened.
Dominique Barner and Abdul Robinson Sr., Hakeem Robinson’s father, are expected to testify against Whitaker and Robinson during this trial.
Action News Jax’s Madison Foglio will be inside the courtroom and provide all the latest updates.
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