Widner “Flow” Degruy talked about killing the Bishop brothers two or three times before they were fatally shot inside a rental car on Memorial Day 2015 in New Orleans East, according to a man who’s already pleaded guilty and is serving time for the slayings.
Jonathan “Lil Joe” Evans, 22, told jurors Thursday (April 4), on the fourth day of Degruy’s second-degree murder trial, the man he looked at like a big brother asked if he was down to help kill the brothers a week after they allegedly shattered his car window and stole two guns when it was parked on the street near Harrah’s casino.
Evans, who appeared in shackles and a bright orange jumpsuit, insisted he didn’t know Kendred Bishop, who went by Kirby, or Kendrick “MuddyCupBuddy” Bishop. But Degruy was his “partner” who he planned to stand by.
“Where we live, it’s like, if somebody take something from you, you don’t want to look like you a coward or weak,” Evans, an Angola inmate, said. “Do what you gotta do.”
Defense attorney Gary Wainwright has insisted Degruy, a successful musician with a budding rap career, had no reason to kill the brothers.
Degruy was signed to Lil Wayne’s Young Money record label and was scheduled to leave town to go on tour the morning of the murders, Wainwright said. MuddyCupBuddy was also an aspiring rapper, and the two had recorded music together.
Kendred Bishop, 18, and Kendrick Bishop, 22, were gunned down inside a black Kia Cadenza in the 4800 block of Bright Drive around 5:45 a.m. May 25, 2015. Degruy and Evans were indicted on second-degree murder and other charges in their deaths that September. Evans testified before a grand jury and at that point had agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
Evans pleaded guilty a month later to manslaughter and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. As part of his plea agreement, Evans said from the witness stand Thursday he must cooperate and tell the truth, or his deal can be thrown out.
Wainwright harped on that requirement of Evans’ plea agreement throughout his cross examination, pointing out inconsistencies in stories Evans told to law enforcement with what he told the jury Thursday.
Evans chalked up inconsistencies to him being confused by officers’ questions and to them incorrectly writing down what he said.
Wainwright said Evans told law enforcement in 2015 he gave Degruy a .40-caliber handgun, and that’s the weapon Degruy had on him the night the Bishop brothers were killed. Evans said Thursday Degruy had a 9mm the night of the shootings.
Police have said shell casings found at the scene of the Bishop brothers’ homicide were from a 9mm rifle and a 7.62x39 semi-automatic assault rifle.
“Were you lying to the ATF?” Wainwright asked.
“I know I told them it was a nine,” Evans said.
“So they typed this down wrong?” Wainwright asked.
“I guess so,” Evans said.
Wainwright pointed to an interview Evans did with police in 2015 in which he went through a list of guns he possessed over the years and told them how he got rid of them. He noted Evans never mentioned he owned a 9mm handgun, which Wainwright suggested was important because Evans’ younger cousin used to carry that particular pistol for Evans when the two were together.
Damian “Lil D” Crockem, who was 15 in 2015, was Evans’ “shooter.” Evans explained since Crockem was under 18, he couldn’t be charged as an adult. So he carried around Evans’ pistol and fired the gun for him, Evans said.
Assistant District Attorney Alex Calenda asked Evans if Crockem participated in the Bishop brothers’ murders, and if he saw anyone else running after shots were fired. He answered no to both questions.
“Who killed those individuals?” Calenda asked.
“Me and Mr. Degruy,” Evans said.
Thursday was the second time in nine months Evans has appeared on the witness stand at Tulane and Broad. When he agreed to talk with law enforcement in 2015, Evans said he had information about a May 11, 2015, murder in Gentilly that killed one of his longtime friends, Harold Martin.
Evans testified in July against a man he claimed killed his friend, who prosecutors had linked to a group of teens responsible for a string of high-profile Uptown restaurant robberies in 2015. A jury acquitted him of all charges.
'He ... just started firing’
According to Evans’ testimony and Degruy’s statement to police, they rode back with the Bishop brothers from a Lil Wayne concert they’d all attended in Mobile, Alabama, the night before the murders.
Evans said he and Kendrick Bishop rode in the backseat, Degruy rode up front and Kendred Bishop drove. At some point when they got back to New Orleans, Evans said the brothers drove them to pick up their guns.
Right before the shooting, they stopped at a gas station on Chef Menteur Highway, and Degruy went inside to buy rolling papers, Evans said. He went in the store shortly after. Surveillance video from the store corroborated Evans’ account.
Evans said they drove toward Bright Drive and Pressburg Street at Degruy’s direction. Degruy got out when the car stopped, Evans said, and he got out immediately after. Evans said Degruy asked him if he had “one in the head,” which Evans said meant a bullet in the chamber of his rifle.
They walked back to the car, and faked like they were going to get in, Evans said.
“He went to the passenger side and just started firing,” Evans said. “I walk up and go to the back and I start firing at the back.”
Evans said Degruy ran away toward his mother’s house on Nottingham Drive, and he walked with his assault rifle in his arms. They were a couple blocks away when Degruy said he dropped his phone, likely in the car, Evans said. Evans ran back and looked, he said, but didn’t find it so he ran back to Degruy’s mother’s house.
Surveillance video that captured the shooting showed two people run from the scene, then one person return and look inside and around the car before running off.
Degruy showed up at the murder scene while police were investigating, and told an officer his cell phone was on the ground next to the car. He agreed to talk to detectives at NOPD headquarters, and it was during that questioning investigators said they considered Degruy a suspect.
Lead homicide Detective Gregory Johnson and Sgt. Robert Barrere said Degruy told inconsistent stories during the interview, and those stories didn’t match what he told an officer at the homicide scene. His interaction with Officer Joseph Chase at the scene was recorded on Chase’s body worn camera.
Degruy’s trial is expected to continue Friday. Criminal District Judge Tracey Flemings-Davillier is presiding.
Previous coverage:
Widner ‘Flow’ Degruy’s mom testifies against him in double murder trial
Rapper Flow to face trial this week in 2015 double homicide
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