Grammy award-winning rapper Lil Durk, real name Durk Banks, was arrested in Florida recently on murder-for-hire charges. Meanwhile, former undisputed champion Claressa Shields has found herself embroiled in some confusion online in connection to her statement on the rapper’s arrest.

Alongside Durk, five members of his hip-hop crew, OTF (Only The Family), were also detained in connection with the case in California. Several reports suggest that the charges are related to the murder of Quando Rondo’s cousin, Lul Pab, real name Saviay’a Robinson, in 2022. Durk and his crew are accused of targeting Rondo, real name Tyquian Bowman, and his cousin in 2022 in retaliation for the 2020 murder of King Von, a rapper on Durk’s label, who was allegedly killed by Rondo’s associate Lul Timm. The charges mentioned in their arrest include conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, in addition to murder-for-hire involving death and the use of a machine gun in a deadly violent crime.

Regardless, after news broke about Durk’s arrest, Claressa Shields hopped on X on October 26th with a message, which seemed to be sympathetic towards the Grammy winner despite the severity of the charges against him. “I’m sick for lil Durk 🥺 damn,” Shields wrote. Immediately, her fans and people on social media launched a wave of criticism towards her for sympathizing with an accused. 

This seems to have forced the undefeated boxer to release another statement, clarifying her stance on Durk’s arrest and charges. “Don’t get it misconstrued,” Shields wrote on X later that same day. “I don’t condone any type of crime or violence. I feel sick for Lil Durk cause with all that potential he still couldn’t let the street s**t go and now it’s costing him his freedom.”

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Lil Durk is currently incarcerated at Broward County Jail without bail. His associates arrested alongside him are Kavon London Grant, Deandre Dontrell Wilson, Keith Jones, David Brian Lindsey, and Asa Houston. According to a report from The Variety, in the unsealed indictment, the government described how the entire murder-for-hire incident unfolded. 

Claressa Shields’ sympathy can’t help Lil Durk

The indictment referred to an individual named D.B., a high-ranking member of the OTF, who got involved in a physical altercation with someone, who is being referred to as T.B., at a nightclub in Atlanta in November 2020. During this altercation, one of T.B.’s associates pulled out a gun and killed D.B.

Variety assumes D.B. could potentially be King Von because the date of the incident matches Von’s death. Also, King Von’s real name was Dayvon Bennett, which could be another indicator. Regardless, following the shooting, the indictment suggests an individual referred to as Co-Conspirator 1 offered to pay a bounty for someone to kill T.B., in coded language, for the role he played in D.B.’s murder. 

Two years later, in August 2022, the defendants figured out T.B. was in a hotel in LA, leading all five conspirators to fly to the state “for the purpose of murdering T.B.” A Co-Conspirator 2 allegedly used a couple of vehicles to track down T.B., which resulted in the death of S.R., or Saviay’a Robinson.

This has landed all five of Durk’s associates with charges of conspiracy and use of interstate facilities to commit murder-for-hire, resulting in death. Additional charges include the use, carry, and discharge of firearms and machine gun, and possession of such firearms, in furtherance of a crime of violence, resulting in death.

With the severity of the charges against rapper Lil Durk, Claressa Shields’ vague tweet seems to have garnered her a lot of hate. While she has clarified her stance on social media, popular personalities like Shields should pay more heed to what they convey on the internet. What did you think of Shields’ tweet?