Mo3’s Assassin Waited 18 Hours Before Brutal Highway Shooting

Detective Eric Barnes testified that rapper Mo3’s murder on Interstate 35 was a calculated, premeditated killing, not a random act of violence.

The Dallas police homicide detective, who has spent 14 years investigating murders, laid out the evidence showing someone waited approximately 18 hours for the victim to leave an apartment complex before opening fire with an assault rifle.

“It was pretty evident that this was not just a random road rage or robbery attempt….It was planned premeditated and based on the evidence that we had from the highway in the hospital, the shooter was intent on killing him,” Barnes testified during the trial of Kewon White, who’s accused of being the gunman in the November 11, 2020 shooting.

Mo3, whose real name was Melvin Noble, was shot and killed around noon on I-35 near the Dallas Zoo.

Barnes said he immediately volunteered to go to the hospital when he heard the victim’s name called out at homicide headquarters.

He knew exactly who Mo3 was, not just as a popular Dallas rapper, but as someone involved in ongoing feuds with other artists in the city.

“I was aware of who he was. He’s a popular rapper in the city of Dallas. Very easily recognizable figure, but also there had been violence going on across the metroplex between rappers and his name was a part of those investigations,” Barnes said, noting that Mo3 had problems with rappers Yella Beezy and Trap Boy Freddy.

When Barnes arrived at the hospital, something didn’t add up. Mo3 was from North Dallas, and his rivals were from Oakliff—the exact area where he was killed. He immediately took control of the situation, instructing hospital staff not to notify anyone that the victim was deceased.

He knew retaliation was coming.

The detective interviewed Mo3’s security head Sean Griffin and his manager that evening.

Through those conversations and a call from a woman whose daughter was dating Mo3, Barnes learned the rapper had arrived in Dallas from California on November 10 and spent the night at an apartment in Oakliff with a woman named Jocelyn Jackson.

Surveillance footage from the apartment complex showed a black Camaro arriving at the location and staying for approximately 18 hours before the victim left.

The shooter was captured on highway surveillance video running down I-35 with an assault rifle equipped with an extended-capacity drum magazine, the kind that can hold 30 to 100 rounds.

Barnes said the investigation quickly shifted from the rap feuds that social media was pointing to.

While Yella Beezy and Trap Boy Freddy had problems with Mo3, evidence showed they weren’t the ones on the highway.

Yella Beezy was in California during the shooting, and Trap Boy Freddy was stuck in traffic behind the shooting on the freeway.