Fatal shooting outside rapper's concert in downtown Louisville sheds light on city's gang problem

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Last weekend at the KFC Yum! Center, the EST Gee Summer Jam Concert brought thousands of people downtown. A fatal shooting followed, and the victim was closely connected to EST Gee.

But Louisville Metro Police knew the risk that EST Gee and the environment around him posed. In fact, LMPD's concerns and warnings about the gang started earlier this year.

A few hours after the concert, 31-year-old DeVontae Beach was found shot to death inside a car on Main Street — just a few blocks away from the concert venue, around 1:30 a.m. Sunday. Beach is listed on social media as the booking agent for the headliner, EST Gee. LMPD said the two are gang members and longtime friends.

EST Gee has more than 1 million followers on social media, and the EST in his name stands for "Everybody Shine Together." In 2021, the FBI and LMPD made a major drug trafficking bust involving members of a Louisville street gang called "Everybody Shine Together." Ten members of the gang were federally indicted and the FBI accused them of terrorizing Louisville's communities.

LMPD had a heavy presence outside the arena at 2nd and Main streets. Officers and several other city officials shared warnings Friday about potential danger at the sold out concert. From 4 p.m. until about midnight outside the KFC Yum! Center on Saturday, members of the special response team, SWAT, air unit and criminal interdiction unit were on scene. In all, at least 80 officers and more than 600 hours of overtime were involved, costing more than $44,000.

The concert promoter agreed to reimburse Louisville Metro Government for the cost of officers' overtime.

LMPD Interim Chief Paul Humphrey said in a written statement Thursday that the extra presence was warranted.

"(EST Gee's) validated gang member status, and the EST gang’s involvement in prior violent crimes that have taken place in our community, paired with the information we received leading up to the concert is the reason extra security was put in place," Humphrey said.

In fact, Humphrey said police shared concerns with the Yum! Center months in advance of the concert.

On social media, Beach's persona is quite a bit different, praised as a youth football coach. Demetrius McDowell, a former gang member who founded the nonprofit Bosses Not Bangers in Louisville, said Beach wasn't necessarily in the gang and was doing things that the community needs to amplify.

"That's the part of the community that we need to step up," McDowell said Thursday. "If they felt like that, why would you continue to let him be that type of person in your community, who is a football coach but also has gang ties?"

McDowell said Louisville's so called gang problem is really about neighborhood beefs and peer pressure. And money is the root cause of the issues.

"If there was a gang problem or a gang, then there would be ranks," he said. "There would be a head person who could tell a lower person what to do. And that's not the case."

LMPD's Homicide Unit is investigating Beach's death, but there aren't any suspects.

Anyone with information in this or any other case is asked to call LMPD's anonymous Crime Tip Line at 502-574-LMPD (5673). Tips can also be submitted anonymously online through the LMPD Crime Tip Portal by clicking here.

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