Wealth without Risk
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Shortly after 9 a.m. on Oct. 24, 2024, Kesean Pollard stepped into an Uber at an apartment complex in Hyattsville.
As the driver pulled out of the parking lot, headed toward Landover Road, an SUV pulled up alongside the Uber and stopped. Three men with guns stepped out and fired into the Uber, striking Pollard multiple times, according to a charging document filed by a Prince George’s County police homicide detective. The Uber driver sped away, and the shooters returned to the SUV and drove off.
Pollard, who was 18, died of multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Maryland medical examiner’s office.
Pollard’s killing appears to be part of a years-long cycle of retaliation between neighborhood gangs in Prince George’s County and Northeast Washington. In a lawsuit filed Oct. 16, Pollard’s family alleges someone inside the D.C. juvenile justice system leaked his home address to a man later charged in his killing, raising questions about whether a breach of confidential information contributed to his death. The feud has crossed jurisdictional boundaries, leaving young men on both sides caught in a cycle of shootings and killings.
A rap song, a killing and a cycle of retaliation
Three months after Pollard’s death, Donzell Rolandas Gibson, 22, whose rap name is “Morally Rich Jake,” posted a song on YouTube titled “Long Live My Brothers.” Gibson rapped, “I lost four brothers back to back, that [bleep] ain’t ever gonna get better.”
One of the brothers Gibson rapped about was “Drose,” the nickname of Devin Brewer. “They took Drose [bleep] went to heaven,” Gibson rapped. “Every time I lose a brother I come back and pick up a Drac.” A Drac refers to a Draco pistol, a short-barreled firearm similar to an AK-47. Police used the rap song to help investigate the Pollard case, court records state.
Read the full story on The Baltimore Sun’s website.
This post was originally published on Fox 45 by Sinclair Media Group.
Local Story
