{"id":229511,"date":"2026-05-13T03:08:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T03:08:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/229511\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T03:08:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T03:08:38","slug":"drill-rapper-18-slain-outside-brooklyn-nycha-complex-died-saying-brothers-nickname","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/229511\/","title":{"rendered":"Drill rapper, 18, slain outside Brooklyn NYCHA complex died saying brother’s nickname"},"content":{"rendered":"

An 18-year-old drill rapper gunned down on Mother\u2019s Day outside his home<\/a> at a Brooklyn NYCHA complex died uttering his brother\u2019s nickname.<\/p>\n

\u201cDaiDai, DaiDai,\u201d Quahmir Cruz gasped, as his younger sibling desperately carried him to an ambulance, the victim\u2019s family told the Daily News on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Cruz was shot in the chest on Blake Ave. near Mother Gaston Blvd. in Brownsville around 1 p.m. Sunday, cops said.<\/p>\n

His younger brother, Daiveon Cruz, 17, was cleaning his bedroom when he heard Quahmir had been wounded, and rushed to the scene, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I found him, I had to carry him and put him on the stretcher,\u201d Daiveon said. \u201cHe kept saying my nickname. He was saying, \u2018DaiDai, DaiDai.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Medics transported Cruz to Brookdale University Hospital, but he could not be saved.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo know that he\u2019s gone and I can\u2019t do nothing about it, it really hurts me,\u201d said Daiveon. \u201cHonestly, I\u2019m not OK. It\u2019s just crazy. That was my best friend. My first friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Friends and family gathered in their hundreds to mourn Quahmir at a vigil held on Tuesday outside the Van Dyke Houses, where the victim lived with his family, and just steps away from where he was killed.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy heart is broken into pieces,\u201d the victim\u2019s mother, Danielle Cruz, said at the vigil. \u201cI miss him so much. I feel like a piece of me is gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cruz, who rapped under the name Boe Quahh, was featured in music videos, including \u201cBackdoor B\u2019z,<\/a>\u201d \u201cTop 4<\/a>\u201d and \u201cOE Anthem<\/a>,\u201d which received more than 125,000 combined views, in total, on YouTube.<\/p>\n

\"BalloonsBalloons are released for slain drill ripper Quahmir Cruz in the Bronx on Tuesday. (Roni Jacobson \/ NY Daily News)<\/p>\n

Drill rap is a subgenre of hip-hop with lyrics that often focus on gang rivalries and has been associated with numerous fatal shootings, including that of Sincere Jazmin<\/a>, 16, a Queens drill rapper gunned down in a dispute with a rival teen<\/a> in March 2025.<\/p>\n

But Quahmir\u2019s family defended the slain rapper\u2019s character, saying he should not be defined by his sometimes violent lyrics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey got this concept of him being a drill rapper and being a negative person, but it\u2019s not that,\u201d said Quahmir\u2019s stepfather, Shaun Davis. \u201cDrill rapping is a way of rapping. It\u2019s not a lifestyle. It\u2019s not him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quahmir worked two jobs, including a gig in construction and another job at the Van Dyke Community Center, where he engaged with neighborhood kids through an anti-violence program, according to an executive at the community center.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The victim) would talk to us about his desire to not get \u2018lost on the streets\u2019 and he was working every day to make sure that didn\u2019t happen,\u201d said Valerie Barton-Richardson, president and CEO of CAMBA, which operates the community center. \u201cWe at CAMBA are saddened beyond belief that our community, our city and our world will never get to see how brilliant his light would have shined in the decades to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barton-Richardson said that Quahmir had recently earned his OSHA certificate and was working with CAMBA staff to update his r\u00e9sum\u00e9 just a week before he was killed.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis dream was to put me and his mom in a mansion,\u201d the victim\u2019s stepfather said at his vigil. \u201cHe didn\u2019t want people putting flowers and balloons in the air. He didn\u2019t want this.\u201d<\/p>\n

A former after-school teacher at the Van Dyke Community Center said that Quahmir\u2019s promise as a performer was obvious from a young age.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom when he was small, he had potential,\u201d Traci Moore said of the victim, who joined the Van Dyke Community Center\u2019s after-school program when he was 8 years old. \u201cHe was such a lovely boy, very talented and respectful. For me, he was just very sweet. Would greet me when he comes in.\u201d<\/p>\n

A video posted on Facebook<\/a> shows a younger Cruz entertaining a small crowd gathered at the basketball courts outside the Van Dyke Houses, singing \u201cMr. Telephone Man\u201d and \u201cCandy Girl\u201d while evoking Michael Jackson with his dance moves.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was an incredible young man,\u201d the victim\u2019s grandmother said at the vigil. \u201cThat\u2019s all I can say. The last time I spoke to him was on my birthday when he told me he loved me.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the vigil on Tuesday \u2014 held at the same basketball court where he sang and danced as a child \u2014 friends and family held orange and white balloons, while playing his more recent songs, including \u201cPain\u201d and \u201cOverthinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, sometimes we get pulled in with negative things,\u201d the victim\u2019s mother said. \u201cMy baby was smarter than that. But I ain\u2019t gonna preach. I\u2019m just gonna pray, and I want y\u2019all to promise to God, my boy is gonna be remembered. Because after the storm is over, it still continues for us. This is my reality. My baby is gone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An 18-year-old drill rapper gunned down on Mother\u2019s Day outside his home at a Brooklyn NYCHA complex died…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229512,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,262,263,266,85,267,9,24,264,12,63,261,265],"class_list":["post-229511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-city","tag-county","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-county","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-crime","tag-sub-county-region"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}