The accused killer of rap pioneer Jam Master Jay walked right up to the superstar in a Queens recording studio and half shook his hand before shooting him and “shrugging” his limp body, a tearful witness testified.
“He walked right up to Jay and gave him a possible handshake, a half-handshake,” Uriel “Tony” Rincon said on the witness stand Wednesday about Karl Jordan Jr. “That's when I hear a couple of shots.” I dropped my phone and looked at him [Jordan] at the same time I see Jay fall.'
“As I watch Jay fall, I see Jordan shaking Jay off of him.”
The killer fled the scene after the October 2002 shooting, and it wasn't until 2020 that prosecutors charged 40-year-old Jordan and 59-year-old Ronald Washington with the October 2002 murder of the Run DMC star. The two men are now facing murder charges in federal court.
The witnesses' years of unwillingness to cooperate led to the case being ignored. Rincon, who was himself shot in the encounter, admitted he was afraid to name names – even though he had seen the killer's tattoo as he fled the area.
Rincon detailed his fears about identifying the shooter and even said Jordan approached him at the rapper's funeral and asked if he had seen the killer.
'I said no. “It made me uncomfortable that he was investigating whether I did it,” Rincon said.
A federal judge ruled that rap lyrics from one of the suspects in the murder of Run-DMC's Jam Master Jay (pictured) cannot be used in court
Karl Jordan Jr. (left), now 40, the hip-hop star's godson, is on trial for the murder of Jam Master Jay. He is being tried along with co-defendant Ronald Washington (right), 59
Jay's friend, whose real name was Jason Mizell, fled New York City after the murder and did not tell police what he had seen until 2017.
“I explained what I saw of the events and explained that I didn't bring them up sooner because I was worried about my mother.”
'Be [Jay’s] “The wife and children needed closure and deserved to know what happened,” Rincon said, crying during his testimony.
Rincon was the prosecution's key witness on Wednesday. He spent hours on the witness stand recounting the night Mizell was killed. Prosecutors said the murder was a drug deal gone wrong.
Mizell worked alongside rappers Joe “Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels as the group helped shape hip-hop in the 1980s with hits like “It's Tricky” and a remake of Aerosmith's “Walk This.” Bringing Hop into the Mainstream A far cry from the best-selling 1986 album Raising Hell
Mizell was 37 and a father of three when he was shot after allegedly purchasing 10 kilograms of cocaine from a Midwest dealer that Washington, Jordan and others planned to distribute in the Baltimore area.
But the dealer involved in the sale refused to cooperate with Washington, locking both defendants out of a potential $200,000 payday, prosecutors alleged.
Jordan, then 18, and Washington, then 38, thought they would be part of the lucrative Baltimore deal and became angry when Mizell told them they were excluded and had nothing left.
Defense attorneys argued that police still haven't figured it out and urged jurors to be skeptical of witnesses who cooperate with their own legal problems in return for leniency.
Ronald Capehart, who claims to know Jam Master Jay, speaks to the media outside Brooklyn federal court as his killer stands trial
Michael Hueston, defense attorney for Karl Jordan Jr., is seen outside the courthouse in Brooklyn on Wednesday
Washington attorney Jacqueline Cistaro is seen entering federal court before testifying on Wednesday
According to prosecutors, the men entered a recording studio in Queens, upset about being cut out of the drug deal, and Jordan shot Mizell at point-blank range
A gun was found at the scene of Jam Master Jay's murder. Jordan shot him in the head with a .40-caliber bullet from inches away, killing him “instantly” in a “brazen murder,” prosecutors alleged
The body of Jason Mizell, aka Jam Master Jay, a member of the seminal rap trio Run DMC, is removed from a recording studio where he was shot in October 2002
Rincon and Mizell were playing video games shortly before the fatal shooting, he testified. The two met years ago through mutual friends and Rincon worked regularly for Mizell.
Jordan and Washington walked through the door of the studio, Rincon recalled, as he pointed to both suspects to identify them as the people he saw in the studio.
When he heard the shots, Rincon remembered dropping his phone just in time to see Mizell fall to the ground.
“He basically went after him and Little D [aka Jordan] “I had to shake Jason off,” Rincon said.
That's when Washington told a woman in the studio to stay down, Rincon said. Washington stood at the door and never moved during the shooting.
Jordan ran away about 15 seconds after the killing as Rincon said he noted the suspect's neck tattoo. At this point, Rincon also felt pain in his own leg from a gunshot wound. He called out to Jay and just hoped the Run DMC member would answer.
“I put pressure on my leg. Cool [Allen] “I left the control room a second or two later,” Rincon said. “Randy grabbed the gun and walked out the door where Little D and Tenard went.”
A police officer testified Tuesday that Allen showed up at the station, told officers about the shooting and that officers then responded to the studio.
“I just said I got shot and my friend isn't moving.” “He needs more help than me,” Rincon said from the witness stand about what he told officers.
“I didn't tell them who shot him because I was scared.” “I was surprised by what I saw and what happened.”
The police initially made no arrests and the case was later ignored. Rincon spoke about not wanting to identify the killer to ensure his mother was safe.
Mizell worked alongside rappers Joe “Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels as the group helped shape hip-hop in the 1980s with hits like “It's Tricky” and a remake of Aerosmith's “Walk This.” Bringing Hop into the Mainstream A far cry from the best-selling 1986 album Raising Hell
Mizell was 37 and a father of three when he was shot after allegedly purchasing 10 kilograms of cocaine from a Midwest dealer that Washington, Jordan and others planned to distribute in the Baltimore area
The suspects face a maximum sentence of life in prison and, if convicted, at least 20 years in prison
Rincon said at Mizell's funeral that Jordan approached him while he was walking with his mother.
“I was walking back to the car with my mom when Little D came up to me with some friends and asked if I saw who did this,” Rincon said. 'I said no. I felt uncomfortable that he wanted to investigate whether I did it.'
However, defense attorneys pounced on interviews between police and Rincon in which Rincon said he didn't know who killed Mizell. Jordanian defense attorney Mark DeMarco asked whether Rincon told officers he didn't have identification.
“Yes, I was scared and didn’t have confidence in the situation,” Rincon said.
DeMarco then asked if it was a lie and if Rincon made the false statements because he was afraid. Rincon admitted he was scared and still was scared when he testified Wednesday.
“Are you lying today?” asked the defense attorney. “No,” Rincon said.