Fake News: Young Stretch

The content of this article is satirical and represents a work of fiction. The names of the characters within are fictitious.

Early Friday morning, rapper Young Stretch, 20, whose real name was Anthony Parks, was shot and killed by two assailants during a music video shoot for his hit song “Bloodbath” in his native Atlanta, Georgia. Four members of Parks’ security team were also killed in the incident, and ten people were injured. Both suspects remain at-large and no motive has been found.

“It’s not fair, man. They really took my guy…they really took my best friend, and for what? What did he do?” asked fellow rapper, frequent Young Stretch collaborator, and close friend Darius Bradley, 22, who performs under the name MurdaMan 6000, on his Snapchat story one hour after the shooting. “This s— has to stop, man,” he went on to say between spurts of tears, “we can’t keep doing this s—. We really hurting ourselves out here and then complaining about someone else doing it. We can’t afford to keep killing each other. We can’t.”

Parks had established himself in the Atlanta and national music scenes through a slew of hit songs and two critically acclaimed album. At the time of his death, three of his songs were certified platinum: “Glock On My Hip,” “Murda Business (feat. MurdaMan 6000),” and his most popular song to date, “I Kill People,” which originally gained notoriety through its use on social media app TikTok.

A phone recording of the incident that has circulated widely on social media captures Parks’ murder in its entirety, beginning with the moment the assailants arrived at the video shoot in what appears to be a black Chevrolet Suburban, playing “I Kill People” at full or nearly full volume through the vehicle’s speakers. As one of Parks’ security guards approached the vehicle, one assailant fired multiple rounds out of the passenger side window from a fully automatic Mini Uzi at him, killing him, while the second assailant exited the driver’s side door brandishing a fully automatic AR-15, and walked around the front of the vehicle firing in Parks’ general direction.

Immediately following the first guard’s collapse, several members of Parks’ security team began firing back with pistols and semi-automatic rifles. At the time of the assailants’ arrival, Parks was holding an object that appeared to be an AK-47 but has since been confirmed to be a plastic prop for the purposes of the music video. The phone recording shows him dropping the prop and running toward his trailer, only to collapse before making it. Eyewitnesses claim that he initially fell after being shot twice in the back and was fatally shot moments later during the ensuing shootout. As the assailants sprinted back to their vehicle before successfully escaping, one of them can clearly be heard shouting “I kill people, Stretch! I kill people!”

Bradley, or “6 Racks,” or simply “Murda,” the last two of which his fans affectionately call him, took to Instagram Live this afternoon to promise vengeance for his friend. “On God n——s gon die, man,” he said, “On God n——s gon die.” The rapper angrily cut the livestream short as multiple viewers began spamming “N——S ALREADY DEAD” in the chatting area.