New Braunfels man charged in murder of San Antonio rapper
A New Braunfels man turned himself into law enforcement on Tuesday, April 11, in connection to the murder of a San Antonio rapper in a targeted drive-by shooting in Houston last month. Montrel Lenard Burley is charged with murder and remains in jail on a $1 million bond, according to Harris County Jail records.
Darrell Gentry, known as up-and-coming rapper BTB Savage, was shot and killed in a vehicle in the River Oaks area of Houston, one of the city’s wealthiest areas, on March 30. Gentry’s mother, Bernita Ward, told police he was driving to an airport to fly to Las Vegas, where she lives, to get away from threats against his life following a viral interview with the rapper days before the shooting took place, according to an arrest affidavit.
The interview with YouTuber DJ Vlad, which has racked up more than 2.7 million views, features Gentry describing a gruesome attempted robbery at his downtown San Antonio apartment, where the rapper said he and his girlfriend left the man, identified as Omar Richardson, to die after shooting him in the back in a firefight. Police did not press charges against Gentry and his girlfriend and described the shooting as justified.
Ward both posted publicly on social media and told police that Richardson’s family had contacted Gentry with threats. According to police, Burley and Richardson considered each other brothers, though not blood related, through mutual ties to a gang. Police were able to identify Burley on March 31 through an investigation that linked the 40-year-old to a rental vehicle that was identified by both witnesses to the shooting and surveillance cameras in the area.
On March 31, documents state that Burley and his girlfriend were stopped in the vehicle by New Braunfels SWAT, where the 40-year-old was arrested for possession of narcotics and taken into custody for questioning where he told police that he had not recently been to Houston and did not have access to a vehicle. When detectives pressed him for details on his vehicle, he asked for an attorney.
His girlfriend, Passion James, was also detained for an unidentified misdemeanor charge, documents said, and told detectives that Burley was not at the house the day of the shooting and did not return home until later in the evening. James also told police about Burley’s connection to Richardson, which she described as cousins. Police said that a bullet casing was found in the vehicle at that time of the traffic stop and, on April 6, said that cell phone data revealed Burley was active in the area of the shooting that killed Gentry.
Burley did not remain in custody at the time of the March 31 traffic stop, and Houston Police officially charged Burley with murder and asked the public for help in finding him on April 7. On April 11, HPD announced that Burley turned himself in to law enforcement and was booked into jail.
Burley remains in the Harris County Jail on a $1 million bond. A judge set conditions in the event he posts bond, including GPS monitoring and no contact with possible witnesses.
New Braunfels spokesperson David Ferguson confirmed New Braunfels police assisted Houston police in the investigation, but declined to comment on the March 31 traffic stop.
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