MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis Police have identified the victim in a deadly downtown shooting, and WREG has learned he had surprising ties to another rapper also shot this weekend.
Friends said 22-year-old Thedric Morton grew up in Raleigh, and he was a rising star in the Memphis rap scene.
“BankBoy Wayne — that’s what I knew him by,” said Preston Gray, a music producer who goes by Hitman PG and produced several songs for Morton. “We communicated through music. But he was always a pretty cool guy. Down to Earth.”
Now Memphis Police are trying to figure out who shot and killed Morton inside a car off South Main Street in downtown Memphis last Friday.
Gray produced as song that features Morton rapping alongside another budding musician, Robert Tunstall, who goes by Casino Jizzle. He was also the victim of a shooting this weekend in Cordova outside Chuck E. Cheese.
The two rappers appeared together in a song this year, which was released on YouTube in July.
“It’s a coincidence, a coincidence,” Gray said “I was thinking about it, like it’s crazy. A couple artists I work with. That’s just life growing up in Memphis”
Police said they don’t think the shootings are connected, but for those in the local music community, it stings.
“They both bubbling in the city a lot,” Gray said. “Any time they drop, they do numbers. We just gotta learn. It’s just hard for the city to come together because so much beef.”
He said he’d hoped to work with Morton again.
Now, it could only be a tribute.
Tunstall’s manager said he’s still in the intensive care unit, but his condition is improving. He’s expected to make a full recovery.
