Hip Hop

Arizona Man Stabbed Black Teen To Death For Playing Rap Music #JusticeForElijah

Elijah and Michawl Adams

A man in Arizona is currently in police custody for stabbing a black teenager to death for playing rap music too loud.

The dead teen has been identified as 17-year-old Elijah Alamin while 27-year-old Michael Adams is currently in police custody for murder. Activists have since launched the #JusticeForElijah social media campaign to help spread the story and get justice for the slain teenager, whose family is currently making preparations for his funeral. According to AZCentral, Adams admitted that he stabbed the teenager approximately 1:42 a.m. last week Thursday.

The fatal incident took placed in a Circle K parking lot. The white male told police that Elijah was playing rap music too loud, and he felt threatened by that. According to court records, Adams used a pocket knife to stab the teen in his back before slitting his throat. The 27-year-old man had only been released from the Arizona State Prison Complex in Yuma on Tuesday, a few days before the fatal stabbing.

Police officers have since obtained surveillance footage from the convenience store showing Adams following the teen inside the store before lunging at him, the record records revealed. The teenager ran from the store but ended up collapsing near a gas pump. Responding officers performed CPR, but the teenager later died when taken to a local hospital.

Adams was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, but the incident sparked widespread outraged across the country. The #JusticeForElijah hashtag has since been launched with people voicing their support and their concerns that the justice system might let Adams off too easy.

Some people on Twitter are calling the crime a hate crime.