BROOKLYN, N.Y. (PIX11) — Run-DMC’s DJ Jam Master Jay was ambushed and executed by the childhood friends he was supporting after the rap group’s money and fame waned more than two decades ago, according to prosecutors.
“The bullet burned his hair and skin on his head,” Assistant United States Attorney Miranda Gonzalez said during opening arguments Monday in Brooklyn federal court for the trial of two men accused in the fatal shooting of Jason Mizell, better known as Jam Master Jay.
Mizell’s godson, Karl Jordan, Jr., 40, and his childhood buddy, Ronald Washington, 59, are accused in the hip-hop star’s slaying in 2002. The defendants are charged with murder while engaged in narcotics trafficking and firearm-related murder, prosecutors said. Jordan faces several other drug distribution charges.
Jordan allegedly shot Mizell point-blank in the head while he was on a couch playing video games in his Jamaica, Queens recording studio at around 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 30, 2002, prosecutors said. Tony Rincon was curled up on the couch with a gunshot wound in the leg and Lydia High was found hysterical in the studio, according to authorities. High identified Jordan as the shooter nine months after the incident and Rincon came forward in 2016, prosecutors said.