Two Men Arrested Over 2002 Killing Of Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay

Two men have been arrested 18 years after the killing of Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay, whose real name was Jason Mizell.

Mizell was shot in 2002 by a masked man in his recording studio in Queens, New York, in what’s now being described as a drug-related homicide.

Mizell was one of three members of Run-DMC alongside Joseph Simmons and Darryl McDaniels. The hip hop group were well known for their songs It’s Tricky, Walk This Way, Sucker M.C.’s and It’s Like That. 

Simmons and McDaniels officially ‘retired’ from the group following Mizell’s death.

Now, nearly two decades after his death, Ronald Washington, 56, and Karl Jordan Jr., 36, have been charged. Jordan Jr. was arrested on Sunday, August 16, while Washington will be officially charged next week as he is currently serving a prison sentence for robbery.

They have both been charged with murder while engaged in narcotics trafficking and other felony offences, reported BBC. 

In a press conference yesterday, August 17, officials said Mizell had acquired 10kg of cocaine in the months prior to his death and had threatened to cut Jordan Jr. and Washington from the deal. This ultimately led to the two plotting Mizell’s death, and he was shot and killed in his studio on October 30, 2002.

Prosecutor Seth DuCharme said at the conference:

Jordan and Mr. Washington walked into a music studio in Queens, where Mr. Mizell and others were working essentially hanging out, and they walked in, and they murdered [him] in cold blood.

This is a case about a murder which for nearly two decades had gone unanswered. Today, we being to answer the question of who killed Jason Mizell and why. The passage of time offers you no escape.

Federal prosecutors first accused Washington for Mizell’s death back in 2007, when the now 56-year-old was being convicted for robbery and was hit with a 17-and-a-half-year prison sentence.

Susan Kellman, Washington’s lawyer at the time, said she didn’t take the accusations seriously and neither did Washington. Apparently he had always denied being involved in Mizell’s murder.

As per The New York Times she said:

I had a sense that somebody whispered something in their ear to get themselves out of trouble. When he heard the allegation, he was laughing, he said, ‘Good one.’

Following his arrest on Sunday, Jordan Jr. also denied any involvement in Mitzell’s death.

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