HOUSTON — Houston police say they've charged a man with murder following a deadly drive-by shooting near River Oaks.
Montrel Lenard Burley, 40, has been charged after a man was killed in what police called a targeted shooting of an out-of-town man that happened on March 30.
Burley is not in custody and police said there is still one more unknown suspect in the death of 26-year-old Darrell Gentry, a rapper known on social media as BTB Savage.
His mother is still reeling over the death of her son.
“No mother should ever feel this pain, no mother should have to bury her child,” Bernita Ward said Friday.
'I think they’re trying to set me up'
Ward believes Gentry was targeted because of an incident earlier this year in San Antonio when a man who was supposed to be her son's friend tried to rob him.
“Anybody that knows Darrell, done business with Darrell knows that he’s a straight-up dude,” Ward said. “I don’t call my son BTB, I call him Darrell, I call him D-Bop, you understand what I’m saying?”
She said Gentry and his fiancé were able to take down the robbers, allegedly killing one in self-defense.
A recent post by her son related to that killing ramped up the pressure to retaliate against him after he talked about the incident in San Antonio, Ward said.
On March 30, She said Gentry called her and predicted his death at a restaurant with people she believes were part of the plot.
But it was on March 30th when Ward says her son called her predicting his death
at a restaurant with people, she believes were a part of the killing plot.
“'Ma, I'm going to talk to you regular, but read your text messages,'” Ward said he told her.
When Gentry got up from the table and went to the bathroom, he told his mom this.
“I said 'What’s going on?' and he said 'I think they’re trying,' I'm sorry, 'I think they're trying to set me up,'" Ward said choking back tears.
Gentry was on his way to the airport for a trip to see his mother when he was shot and killed in a parking lot on Mid Lane. Suffering at least one gunshot wound, his white Mercedes was riddled with bullets and his home burglarized, according to his mother.
“Why, why? That’s what I want to know. Why did y’all kill my son, that’s what I want to know?” Ward said.
“They were even texting, telling the other ops what he got on, what color car he’s driving and all the way down to his 30-day tag,” Ward said.
Gentry spent four years in the US Military and had children, she said.
Anyone with information on Burley's whereabouts or the second suspect is asked to contact HPD Homicide at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
What happened
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said from the beginning that it was a targeted hit in one of Houston’s richest neighborhoods.
Nearby surveillance video, just minutes after a man was killed in a drive-by, showed police and EMTs rushing to the scene.
“At one point, they could’ve shot from the vehicle and whatnot. The fact is multiple shots, so they did get out at one point,” Finner said.
The 911 call came in about shots being fired on Mid Lane near San Felipe Street came in around 6 p.m.
Witnesses told police they saw a black Subaru with dark windows pull up next to the victim's Mercedes, with two suspects getting out of the car, and firing dozens of bullets into the car.
Mayor Sylvester Turner said he was aware of the incident.
“There was an individual who, it’s unfortunate he lost his in the City of Houston. He’s not from the City of Houston,” he said.
Finner said he and his team believe the victim was targeted, but the relationship between the victim and the suspects is not known.