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Teen Charged With Murder Of Man Shot And Killed While Streaming On Facebook Live
Roosevelt Rankins Jr. was shot before crashing his car, all while making a Facebook Live video.
An Alabama teen has been charged in connection with the death of a local father of five who was killed while streaming a Facebook Live video.
Bakari Ano Taylor, 19, was arrested Friday and charged with capital murder for the January killing of Roosevelt Rankins Jr., 34, the Montgomery Real-Time News reports.
During his last hour alive, Rankins recorded a Facebook Live video from the inside of his car under his Facebook name “Crum King.” About halfway into the 45-minute clip, a shadow appears to Rankins’ right. He flinches before there is audible gunfire. Rankins tries to flee and his phone drops to the floor of the car before the vehicle crashes.
Rankins can be heard moaning as a passenger in his car tells him to “wake up” and pleads with him, “Don’t go.”
First responders found Rankins dead inside his crashed car in Montgomery shortly after. The passenger was uninjured.
Rankins was a father of five, his own father, Roosevelt Rankins Sr., told AL.com in January. The grieving dad theorized his son may have been targeted for robbery when he was shot.
“My family has seen it, but they have advised me not to,’’ Rankins Sr. said in January of the Facebook Live video which shows his son’s death. “This is the worst thing I’ve ever been through. I wouldn’t wish it on nobody.”
Taylor was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force. How investigators came to identify him as a suspect nine months after the shooting is unclear.
Taylor is being held without bond. It’s unclear if he has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.
