Toronto Rapper Kills Father & Brother, Shoots Mother
Tragic events may have started with a beef over Instagram clout
Gangster rappers do sometimes glorify murder, but I doubt Toronto rapper JoEazy’s double homicide will win him much street cred, because his victims weren’t rival gang members, they were his own father and brother. He also shot his mother, who survived.
Can you imagine?
JoEazy, the 23-year-old MC whose legal name is Benedict Johnson Kongolo, reportedly showed up to his parent’s residence in Toronto’s Regent Park neighbourhood at around 1:30pm on Tuesday, March 12th.
A struggle ensued and the rapper shot his father, who later died in hospital. His brother then confronted him, so JoEazy shot him too. His mother then tried to stop him from leaving her home, so he shot her too. According to Toronto police, her injuries are non-life-threatening.
This is a picture of JoEazy’s father:
According to The Dirty Newz, a spectacular car chase then ensued in which two police officers were wounded. The pursuit ended on Sackville Street, where JoEazy was taken into custody. Police reportedly seized a pistol from him during the arrest.
So what on earth could make someone shoot their father, mother, and brother in one fell swoop? It’s too soon to say for sure, but some are speculating that the likeliest explanation is insanity, possibly drug-induced psychosis.
On March 13th, the Toronto Star reported that:
On Wednesday morning, Benedict Kongolo appeared briefly in a North York courtroom by video from the Toronto police 51 Division station.
He entered the video room wearing white coveralls provided by the division. Swaying from foot to foot, breathing heavily at times and staring wide-eyed towards the floor, Kongolo did not respond when a justice of the peace asked him to identify himself for the court.
“He’s been like this with us this morning,” an officer off-screen told the court.
The court ordered he not communicate with one named person and that he be given medical attention.
He will appear again next week and will remain in custody until then.
Shortly before shooting his parents and parent, JoEazy had posted incoherent ramblings on Instagram.
Given that these posts were written in thick Toronto slang, they are difficult to interpret.
According to the Dirty Newz, JoEazy was “frustrated that someone had borrowed some of his jewellery and tried to flex the items as their own.”
They go to speculate that the man JoEazy was upset with was another Toronto rapper by the name of HG Paperboy.
Incidentally, HG Paperboy had been shot a day earlier in Etobicoke, but survived the shooting.
He appears to have recently deleted all his Instagram posts, leading to speculation that he removed them after being shot.
The Dirty Newz also points out that JoEazy had mentioned in his rambling IG posts that he had received criticism from unnamed individuals and that he had been told to change some of his lyrics. He had also mentioned that he was going to release a new song titled ‘Trap Boy’ throughout this week.
Did JoEazy murder Paperboy for urging him to change his lyrical content?
To do so would normally seem like an extreme reaction, but let’s keep in mind that this is the same person who shot his mother, father, and brother.
A quick perusal on his music videos will also give a better clear idea of what kind of person he was.
If you’d like JoEazy and Paperboy rapping on the same track, I recommend this collaboration that they released three years ago. I don’t condone the lyrical content, but they’re both clearly talented.
If JoEazy shot his creative partner over Instagram clout, that really says something about the times that we’re living in, doesn’t it?