Thousands have gathered at a Florida arena to remember slain rapper XXXTentacion on Wednesday.
Family, friends and fans attended the service at the 20,000 seat BB&T Center in Sunrise today, which began at midday and will run until 6pm this evening.
Emotional fans stood in line outside the Florida Panther’s stadium from 7am, in the sweltering 100 degrees F, hoping to be the first through the doors of the arena when the doors opened at 12 noon.
Many attendees sang along to XXXTentacion songs, blasted from loudspeakers outside the venue, and shared how they had been moved by his lyrics.
‘It feels like he’s family,’ 15-year-old Christina Rivas, who traveled from Brookefield, Wisconsin with her mom Sandy Rivas for the service, told the Miami Herald. ‘He just touched everyone.’
A tribute video of the rapper, whose real name is Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy, is playing during the first hour of the viewing, and celebrity guests are expected to be in attendance. Organizers are expecting a total of 19,000 mourners over the afternoon.
The funeral has an open casket and cell phone and video cameras are strictly prohibited.
Thousands have gathered at a Florida arena to remember slain rapper XXXTentacion on Wednesday (pictured are the crowds outside the 20,000 seat BB&T Center in Sunrise)
Emotional fans stood in line outside the Florida Panther’s stadium from 7am, in the sweltering 100 degrees F, hoping to be the first through the doors of the arena when the doors opened at 12 noon
Some of the teens attending the open-casket service flashed a solemn X sign for the rapper as they entered the funeral
One attendee wore a controversial shirt which read ‘Don’t kill your friends kids!’
Family, friends and fans attended the service at the 20,000 seat BB&T Center in Sunrise today, which began at midday and will run until 6pm this evening
Fans were invited to say their final goodbye at the public memorial service on Wednesday. The funeral has an open casket
‘Please leave them at home or in your vehicle. Any person found with any device of the sort will be immediately turned around at the gate or escorted out and will not be allowed back on the premises,’ the Instagram post read.
The rapper’s mother briefly acknowledged the crowd as she entered the service but didn’t say anything.
XXXTentacion brought out a big local following of fans including Albert Lopez, 17, who said he was ‘heartbroken’ by news of the fatal shooting.
‘I felt like he knew him as a brother,’ Lopez said as he waited in line.
Christian Soler, 22, of Deerfield Beach – where the rapper was shot – said he wasn’t a devoted fan wanted to pay his respect to a member of his community.
started by her son and was his ‘final wish’.
Hundreds gathered at a Florida arena to remember slain rapper XXXTentacion on Wednesday
The sheriff’s department announced they would like to to speak with 22-year-old Robert Allen (left and right) in connection with XXXTentacion’s murder
A mourner wears a shirt with XXXTentacion’s face emblazoned across it
A group of fans flash the X sign in honor of the rapper who was shot dead on June 18 in his own car
Many attendees sang along to XXXTentacion songs, blasted from loudspeakers outside the venue, and shared how they had been moved by his lyrics
Mourners, of all ages and both local and from out of state, attended the ceremony on Wednesady
Cops patrolled outside the arena to ensure peaceful entry to the service.
XXXTentacion, whose real name is Jahseh Onfrony, was gunned down last Monday as he left a motorsports store in Deerfield Beach. He was 20 years old.
Dedrick Williams, 22, has been charged in the rapper’s murder. And today, the sheriff’s department announced they would like to to speak with another man, 22-year-old Robert Allen. Allen is already on probation until 2021, for carrying a concealed firearm, drug possession and identity theft, court records reveal.
Following his death, XXXTentacion topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart with ‘Sad!’ and his two albums have landed in the Top 10.
The rapper’s mom, Cleopatra Bernard, appealed to fans in an Instagram post, to donate one dollar each to the XXXTentacion Foundation – which she said had been
Police are patrolling outside the arena in case of any trouble at the event
The funeral has an open casket and cell phone and video cameras are strictly prohibited
A fan wears a shirt which reads ‘long live Jahseh Onfroy’ – XXXTentacion’s real name
A tribute video of the rapper, whose real name is Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy, is playing during the first hour of the viewing, and celebrity guests are expected to be in attendance
Organizers are expecting a total of 19,000 mourners over the afternoon
A billboard outside slain rapper XXXTentacion’s memorial service in Florida
Bernard said all proceeds would go towards various charities helping underprivileged children, kids in foster care, the homeless, single mothers and families struggling to pay hospital bills.
Florida police have alleged that XXXTentacion was deliberately targeted by two assailants on Monday who followed him into a motorcycle store.
The 20-year-old was gunned down outside Riva Motorsports in Pompano Beach, Florida.
Dedrick Williams, 22, has been arrested for his death. He is one of the two men alleged to have carried out the attack. The other has not yet been traced and police are planning to release a sketch this week.
The rapper’s lawyer said police believed that he was the victim of a robbery gone-wrong and that he may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
But friends of XXXTentacion say he had made enemies in his rise to the top, and believe that the fatal shooting was a deliberate murder plot.
At 3.30pm on June 18 XXXTentacion entered the store. Two minutes later, two men got out of a dark sports car and followed him in to the store, according to the arrest affidavit which was obtained byThe New York Times.
The rapper was shot dead in his BMW (pictured) while leaving a Deerfield Beach motorbike store
Dedrick Williams, 22, has been charged with premeditated murder. He is one of two men police believe were involved in the attack
Inside, the two men went to the parts department and bought masks then exited the store.
Once they were back in the parking lot, they moved their car to the north gate of the parking lot, blocking the exit.
When the rapper finally emerged at 3.55pm, he got into his $150,000 SUV. He tried to turn out of the parking lot but was ambushed by the two men in the SUV.
The men then got out of their SUV wearing masks and carrying guns. They ‘demanded property’ from the rapper and a fight ensued.
He was shot and the two men then reached into his car to steal a Louis Vuitton bag. It is not clear what was inside it but XXXTentacion’s lawyer previously suggested that he visited the bank before going to the motorcycle store.
Whether or not there was cash inside the bags remains unclear.
After shooting him, the two men fled in their SUV.
Authorities later arrested Williams by matching the orange sandals he is seen wearing in Instagram pictures to the orange sandals on one of the suspects described by witnesses from the robbery.
XXXTentacion’s lawyer said he was planning on buying a motorcycle and had been to the bank before he went into the store
RIP: XXXTentacion’s mom shared several heart-wrenching post about her son after his death including this one. She later shared a photograph of an ultrasound which suggested her son impregnated someone before his death. The woman is not named
A separate Instagram post , shared by the controversial ‘Sad’ rapper’s mother Cleopatra Bernard, asked fans to donate one dollar each to the XXXTentacion Foundation. She said the rapper started it himself it was her son’s ‘final wish’
The rapper’s family has said from the beginning that they do not believe he was randomly killed.
It has also been claimed that he ‘knew he had enemies’ and had become fearful about leaving the house.
Some close to him say he was warned to increase his security team in the weeks before his death.
The controversial rapper’s fans have erupted in grief and flooded the motorcycle store with tributes to him after his death.
Some claimed optimistically that the reports of his death were a publicity stunt and that he is still alive.
Among those who went to pay her respects to him was an ex-girlfriend who said he beat and choked her when she was pregnant.
The rapper’s mother has since claimed on Instagram that another woman, who has not been named, is pregnant with his child.
She shared a photograph of an ultrasound and said it was his final ‘gift’ to the world.
Billboard reports that the rapper-singer’s song originally peaked at No. 7, but jumped back this week from No. 52 to No. 1, supplanting Drake’s ‘Nice for What.’
Fans gathered at a vigil for the rapper in Deerfield Beach, Florida, near the site where the troubled rapper-singer was killed, shortly after the fatal shooting last week
A mourner that goes by the name ‘notoriousa1.vice,’ makes an ‘X’ sign as he holds a candle at a memorial for rapper XXXTentacion at an earlier vigil