18-year-old man charged with murder after storming Melbourne rapper’s home and shooting him dead

An 18-year-old man has been charged with murder over the killing of a Melbourne rapper who was shot dead in his home.

Chris Habiyakare, 24, who performed under the name Lyr1cure7, was found dead at his Sunshine North home on August 24 last year.  

Police allege a group of armed intruders stormed the property, with two men arrested and charged with murder in November 2021.  

Homicide detectives on Wednesday arrested three more people, including an Ascot Vale man, 18, who was taken into custody at Docklands.

He has since been charged with murder and will face Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday night.

A Tarneit man, 21, and a Keilor Downs man, 20, were arrested in their home suburbs on Wednesday afternoon and remain in police custody.

No one else was injured during the attack. 

Police said ‘significant’ amounts of cash and drugs were found at Habiyakare’s house when it was searched.

They added Habiyakare was known to police and had a history involving drugs. 

The rapper’s grieving family last year said he was turning his troubled life around before he was gunned down in a ‘senseless act of violence’. 

Chris Habiyakare’s father Belthrand (right) broke down while revealing how his eldest son, who was born in a Tanzanian refugee camp, struggled with drugs and crime in the years before his death

His father Belthrand Habiyakare broke down while revealing how his eldest son, who was born in a Tanzanian refugee camp, struggled with drugs and crime in the years before his death. 

Habiyakare recently turned a corner and was on better terms with his family when his life was abruptly cut short.

‘Life became so rocky that at some point I realised he was going to die, and I went into a depression,’ Belthrand said.

‘I lost hope and then slowly he started growing and he realised his problems, realised he needed to do something about them.

‘When I had some hope… he started repenting, calling us and apologising every week, and then all of a sudden his life ended.’

He said his son’s death made him feel heartbroken and defeated and Mr Habiyakare’s siblings were struggling to come to terms with his death.

‘This event has broken me down into small pieces and I don’t know how I’m going to put them back together,’ he said. 

An Ascot Vale Man, 18, has since been charged with murder and will face Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday night. Two other men aged 21 and 20 were arrested and remain in police custody

Habiyakare answered a knock on the door when group of men armed with a range of weapons, including a gun, forced their way into the Essex Street house.

Two men and three women visiting Habiyakare at the time fled outside with one woman forced to smash a window to escape.

Police said a fight occurred between Habiyakare and the group of men and he was shot, before the men drove off.

One of the friends who was visiting Habiyakare called triple-0 before commencing CPR.

Habiyakare died at the scene, despite desperate attempts to revive him.