Jayson Scott, the 23-year-old son of female rapper Remy Ma, has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the 2021 fatal shooting of Darius Guillebeaux in Queens, New York, the NYPD announced on Wednesday, June 19.
Scott and another man, 22-year-old Richard Swygert, were arrested on Tuesday night, three years after the brazen broad daylight attack that left 47-year-old Guillebeaux dead. The shooting occurred on June 7, 2021 at the intersection of 148th Street and Rockaway Boulevard in the Springfield Gardens neighborhood of Queens, New York.
According to police, Guillebeaux was shot multiple times in the head and chest. He was transported to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. At the time, authorities believed a dispute may have preceded the bloodshed.
“This defendant must face the consequences for allegedly shooting another young man and ending his life,” said Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz in a statement. “We must prevent these tragedies from ever occurring in the first place by taking guns off our streets and stopping the senseless violence that is plaguing our neighborhoods.”
Just eight months before his murder, Guillebeaux had been indicted as part of “Operation Heat Wave,” a large-scale drug trafficking investigation led by New York Attorney General Letitia James. The probe resulted in charges against 54 individuals accused of funneling heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine to Jefferson County in upstate New York. It’s unclear if Scott or Swygert had any prior connection to Guillebeaux.
Remy Ma, whose real name is Reminisce Smith, has expressed support for her son. “I stand by my son’s innocence and pray that the NYPD conducts a thorough investigation to reveal the truth,” the Grammy-nominated rapper said in a statement.
The 44-year-old Bronx native, who rose to fame as part of Fat Joe’s group Terror Squad in the 1990s, is no stranger to legal troubles herself. In 2008, she was convicted of assault and illegal weapons possession for shooting a friend outside a Manhattan nightclub the previous year, a crime that resulted in a six-year prison sentence.
Scott has been held on Rikers Island on $500,000 bail since May 9 in a separate gun case. He was allegedly caught carrying a loaded .40-caliber Glock with an extended magazine and in possession of liquid promethazine. He is expected to be arraigned on the murder charge in a Queens court next week.
Swygert, the second suspect in Guillebeaux’s killing, has now been linked to three murders in total. He has been jailed since 2021 on charges of fatally shooting a man in a Queens karaoke bar in August of that year, reportedly over a gold chain. Swygert is also accused in the New Year’s Day 2021 killing of Robert Williams outside a Queens hotel.
In addition to the murder charges, both Scott and Swygert face counts of criminal possession of a weapon and reckless endangerment. If convicted, they could face up to life in prison.
