Five associates of Chicago rapper King Von charged with murder-for-hire shooting in Los Angeles

Five associates of Chicago rapper King Von have been charged with being hired in Los Angeles two years ago to kill rival rapper Quando Rondo over his alleged involvement in King Von's 2020 murder.

The indictment was quashed Thursday in the U.S. Central District Court of California. Kavon London Grant, Deandre Dontrell Wilson, Keith Jones, David Brian Lindsey and Asa Houston are charged with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire resulting in death, committing murder-for-hire resulting in death, and using a machine gun in a violent crime resulting in death.

The indictment alleges that after King Von's assassination, a co-conspirator not named in the indictment offered “money and lucrative music opportunities at OTF” to anyone involved in the murder of Quando Rondo, whose real name is Tyquian Bowman . Quando Rondo was not injured in the 2022 shooting in California, but his cousin, 24-year-old Saviay'a Robinson, was fatally shot.

All five were arrested in Chicago on Thursday and made their first court appearance in Dirksen federal court, where a judge ordered them all to remain in custody pending trial.

The five were associated with Only the Family, or OTF, a hip-hop collective founded by Chicago rapper Lil Durk that produces and sells drill rap by artists primarily from Chicago, the indictment says. King Von was a high-ranking member of the group.

King Von, whose real name is Dayvon Bennett, was among three people killed in a shooting outside a club in Atlanta on November 6, 2020.

In August 2022, Wilson allegedly recruited Jones, Lindsey and Houston to travel from Chicago to California after learning that Quando Rondo was staying at a hotel in Los Angeles. According to the indictment, they used a credit card linked to OTF to arrange same-day flights from Chicago to San Diego.

Grant, who flew from Miami to Los Angeles on a private jet, is accused of supplying firearms – one modified to function as a fully automatic machine gun – to Jones, Lindsey and an unnamed co-conspirator.

Grant also provided two cars – a white BMW sedan from a car rental company and a white Infiniti sedan with fake license plates – that the group used to “find, track down and kill” Quando Rondo, the indictment says. Grant also booked a hotel room for the group and purchased four ski masks that were allegedly worn during the shooting.

On August 18, 2022 and into the next day, the group drove to a hotel where Quando Rondo was staying and awaited his departure. From the two cars, the group followed Quando Rondo, who was a passenger in a black Cadillac Escalade, through the area – to a marijuana dispensary, a clothing store and a gas station, the indictment says.

Houston then allegedly drove the Infiniti into an alley behind the gas station and parked it to let Jones, Lindsey and an unnamed co-conspirator out of the car so they could rob Quando Rondo, the indictment says.

They fired shots at the Escalade, fatally striking Quando Rondo's cousin Robinson, who was standing next to the Escalade while Quando Rondo was in the gas station, the indictment says. Quando Rondo remained uninjured.

The defendants and unnamed co-conspirators fled the crime scene to a hamburger restaurant, where they discussed paying for the shooting. Later that day, they boarded flights back to Chicago, and Jones and Lindsey later received unspecified amounts of money for their involvement in the murder, according to the indictment.

The indictment also alleges that Jones and Lindsey were members of Chicago street gangs.

OTF was founded by Lil Durk in 2010, around the same time the drill rap subgenre emerged. The subgenre is characterized by its monotonous lyrics that reference gang violence.

Another Chicago drill rapper, FBG Duck, was killed in a gang-related shooting on the Gold Coast in 2020. His mother filed a wrongful death lawsuit this month attempted to link Lil Durk and King Von to the murder.