Photo Credit: Lil Wayne/Soundcloud
Rapper Flow who was once on Lil Wayne’s Young Money label who also created the rap group L.A.T. with Kevin Gates was handed down a life sentence today for a double murder he committed in 2015. Entering the courtroom muttering loudly and flipping folders on off a desk on the ground, it was clear the 27 year old rapper wasn’t thrilled to be there. He also was forced to confront the mother of the two brothers Kendrick and Kendred Bishop that he killed.
“They were our heart, until you ripped that away from us,” the boys’ mother, Sherry Strauss, said in a statement read by a prosecutor. “Maybe your parents didn’t love you enough like you wanted, but our boys were well-loved, and you knew it.”
Photo Credit: OPSO
The night before the murders occurred, they all attended a Lil Wayne concert in Alabama before returning to New Orleans East. Flow, whose real name is Widner Degruy, had suspected that the two had stolen $8,000 cash and a gun from him a week before. The problem with the murders that ultimately got him caught was the fact that he dropped his cell phone at the scene of the crime where their bullet filled bodies were left in the 4800 block of Bright Drive. He gave a number of conflicting statements about his whereabouts before the murder and was eventually snitched on by his friend Jonathan Evans who helped him commit the murders. And in return for telling his side of the story, the 22 year old only received a 20 year sentence.
“I am glad that you were a sloppy murderer,” their mother, Sherry Strauss said in her statement. “I am glad that we received closure, because that’s something that most families don’t.” Still doubting the reason behind the murders being stolen money, she went on to say, “I will never know the real reason you chose to kill our boys, and that hurts my soul.”
The father of the slain brothers, Kendrick Bishop, Sr. spoke after the hearing saying, “I was dissatisfied with the time that he did get, but I was real satisfied when he testified. His testimony is a lot of what I think helped us win this case.”
District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro said Assistant District Attorneys Alex Calenda and Irena Zajickova did a “fantastic” job prosecuting the case. “We strive to keep crime victims and their families informed throughout each case. But the issue of a co-defendant’s decision to cooperate in a prosecution is a sensitive matter, and immediate notification to all interested parties is not always possible. Our goal is to achieve justice, and that goal was attained in this case,” Cannizzaro said.
Both parents wanted to make it known during the hearing that their sons never signed a deal with Degruy. “I don’t even want to give him that much credit,” Bishop said. Degruy’s defense attorney Gary Wainwright has said his client intends to appeal.
