New reports confirm that a 26-year-old man and JayDaYoungan affiliate accused of killing rapper Highway Youngin has died by suicide after a lengthy standoff with the police.
After hours of trying to negotiate his surrender on Thursday, June 1, Chief Jimmy Travis said, the young man, whose name is Tommie Diamond, shot himself in the stomach.
The incident happened around 11:30 p.m. after deputies from the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office came to arrest him at a family member’s Kentwood residence, FOX 8 Live reported.
The Tangipahoa Special Response team stated they tried to talk him down, but he threatened law enforcement with a possible attempt to commit suicide by cop.
Suicide by cop or suicide by police or law-enforcement-assisted suicide is when someone tried to kill themselves by deliberately provoking a lethal response from a public safety or law enforcement officer.
The suspect is said to have barricaded himself away from the officers inside the home before shooting himself in the stomach.
Deputies sent a drone into the residence to confirm his death.
Officials were on Diamond’s trial as he was accused of fatally shooting Highway Youngin (Calvin Felton) on Sunday, May 28.
Authorities were alerted of the deadly gunplay around 1 p.m. and discovered the North Short rapper in a Village of Tangipahoa yard with a gunshot wound to his stomach. The emerging artist died later that night.
The chief says Diamond had more than just Highway Youngin’s death. Before his untimely demise, he was possibly facing charges of second-degree murder, obstruction of justice, and contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile.
On Aug. 8, 2020, Diamond was with a group of seven men that fired into a birthday party crowd during a Roseland trail ride.
About 100 people were in attendance, one was a 21-year-old mother from Baton Rouge, who lost her life during the gunplay.
One of these men was rapper JayDaYoungan. The artist, whose real name is Javoris Scott, was charged with accessory to second-degree murder and obstruction of justice for his role in the incident.
Authorities also arrested Diamond for this murder and at the time of Highway Youngin’s death out on bond.