Harrowing video shows Texas rapper G$ Lil Ronnie running for his life moments before he and his young daughter were gunned down — as cops announced the arrest of one of the “cowards who took the lives of these innocent people.”
The popular rapper, real name Ronnie Smith, was seen in a bright orange tracksuit as he bolted across a car wash parking lot as two men ran up to him Monday morning, the video first obtained by TMZ shows.
Moments later, he was gunned down — with his daughter, R’Mani, also shot dead just a day after celebrating her fifth birthday.
Footage shows Ronnie Smith being chased around the parking lot by two men. WFAA
The 30-year-old rapper and his daughter R’Mani were shot dead while getting a cleaning at a car wash in Forest Hill, Texas. hoodfamelilronnie/InstagramMore than 30 bullet markers were pictured at the scene.
The video emerged a day after police announced that convicted sex offender Adonis Robinson, 24, was arrested — and they had identified a second suspect, Jakobie Russell, 21, who was still being hunted.
“Now we’ve identified the two cowards who took the lives of these innocent people,” Forest Hill Police Chief David Hernand told a Wednesday press conference.
“We have public enemy No. 1, Adonis Robinson, who’s also a registered sex offender. Public enemy No. 2, Jakobie Russell, who’s on the run. They’re scared. They’re cowards.”
The suspects, both from Fort Worth, face capital murder charges, police said.
The suspects are accused of pulling up, opening fire on the father-daughter duo, then fleeing in a white four-door Kia, police said.
Adonis Robinson, a convicted sex offender, was taken into custody for the shooting on Thursday. Forest Hill Police Department
Another suspect, Jakobie Russell, has yet to be caught by authorities. Forest Hill Police DepartmentSmith and his daughter were both pronounced dead at the scene.
Robinson is a convicted sex offender who was released from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in August 2024.
His rap sheet includes sexual assault and failing to comply with sex offender registration requirements, cops said.
The two Forth Worth men will face capital murder charges for the shooting. FOX4Russell has prior convictions for assault bodily injury, assault of a pregnant person, and unlawful carrying of a weapon, police said.
“Somebody came through shooting and killed him and the baby,” the rapper’s aunt, Stella Houston, told Fox 4 News.
“A baby!” she said of the girl.
“He was a rapper. He didn’t bother nobody. He didn’t target nobody. He was a family man, and he was going around rapping, okay. Why would you target him?” the aunt asked.
