15-04-2025
Rapper Tay-K convicted of murder for the second time after shooting photographer while on the run from police
Tay-K, the rapper best known for his 2017 single "The Race," has been convicted of murder in Texas for the second time.
The 24-year-old artist, whose real name is Taymor McIntyre, was already serving a 55-year sentence for a separate deadly shooting. Following his conviction Monday for the killing of 23-year-old photographer Mark Anthony Saldivar in 2017, McIntyre is now facing an additional five to 99 years in prison.
Per the verdict reading in San Antonio, McIntyre was found not guilty of capital murder, which would have meant an automatic life sentence without the chance of parole. However, jurors unanimously agreed to convict him for the lesser charge of murder. The jury will now hear evidence for the sentencing phase of the trial.
An attorney for McIntyre didn't immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly's request for comment Tuesday.
Saldivar was found with a fatal gunshot wound at a Chick-fil-A restaurant across from San Antonio's North Star Mall on April 23, 2017, according to KSAT News. Authorities said McIntyre picked Saldivar up in a car after the photographer asked to take photos of the rapper for a new song. Prosecutors argued that McIntyre shot Saldivar after trying to rob him.
During the trial, McIntyre's attorneys criticized the police investigation of the shooting, alleging that the case relied too much on self-serving statements from witnesses.
"Taymor McIntyre is not guilty of capital murder, murder, or manslaughter, and the reason for that is very simple," John Hunter, a lawyer for McIntyre, told jurors during last week's closing arguments, per the Associated Press. "You have to do it right. You have to do the work. And this case clearly demonstrates the work wasn't done."
McIntyre was previously convicted of murder in 2019, in the death of 21-year-old Ethan Walker during a 2016 home invasion in Mansfield, southeast of Fort Worth.
The fatal shooting of Saldivar took place while McIntyre was on the run from authorities, after allegedly cutting off his ankle monitor while on house arrest.
That led to a nationwide manhunt, during which McIntyre recorded and released "The Race," which went platinum and peaked at No. 44 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The track included such lyrics as "F‑‑ a beat, I was tryna beat a case / But I ain't beat that case, bitch, I did the race" and "Pop a n‑‑‑‑ then I go out my way / Do the dash then I go out the way." In a music video for the song, McIntyre posed beside his own wanted poster.
McIntyre was apprehended in in New Jersey on June 30, 2017 — the same day his music video dropped — and brought back to Forth Worth, according to the Forth Worth Star-Telegram.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
