What started out as a weekend of celebration was capped off by tragedy for a family in Forest Hills, Texas, a suburb of Ft. Worth. Ronnie Smith, also known as rapper G$ Lil Ronnie and his 5-year-old daughter were fatally shot at a car wash Monday morning, March 3; the family celebrated the birthday of the 5-year-old girl on that Sunday.
Police responded to the scene, identified as Slappy’s Express Car Wash and found Smith’s car riddled with bullets. Both victims were pronounced dead at the scene. Allegedly two suspects, identified as Jakobie Russel, 21, and Adonis Robinson, 24, exited a vehicle, walked up on the victim’s vehicle and shot, then fled the scene. Police have yet to identify a motive in the shooting.
Stella Houston, identified as Smith’s aunt, said that she doesn’t know why anybody would have a problem with him.
“He was a good kid. He was. He didn’t bother nobody, He didn’t. He was a rapper. He didn’t bother nobody. He was a family man, and he was going around rapping, okay. Why would you target him?” she said in an interview with Dallas-Ft. Worth’s FOX 4 news affiliate.
In his last Instagram post dated February 13, Smith and his daughter took a picture at her school for what looks to be a Valentine’s with Dad celebration. In the photos and accompanying video, Smith points out his daughter’s friend was sad that her dad couldn’t make it, so they let her join them as a family for the celebration.
According to WFAA 8 in Dallas-Ft. Worth, The two suspects in the killing have each had several run-ins with the law. In the case of Russell, as recently as February 11, 2025, a warrant was issued for his arrest stemming from a December 2023 incident where he shot and injured a man in Ft. Worth. He pleaded out to a lesser charge in January 2025 but did not complete the requirements for his plea deal leading to the issuance of the warrant, however, the warrant was recalled on February 18. He pleaded guilty to assault of a pregnant person in January 2023.
Robinson also has convictions for sexual assault and a misdemeanor for failure to identify himself to authorities. In the case of the latter, he was charged with unlawfully carrying a weapon but that charge was dropped when he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge.
It is unclear how G$ Lil Ronnie and the suspects knew each other if at all.
