Rapper Admits to Shooting, Surprised Victim Died

Trevell Coleman, also known as the rapper "G-Dep", recently confessed to a shooting that took place 17 years ago.  Unbeknownst to him, until the police told him he was confessing to murder, was that the victim had died, as reported by the New York Post.

Coleman was plagued by guilt since the shooting of John Henkel on October 19, 1993. 

He admitted to the crime at the 25^th Precinct station house on Wednesday, December 15.  Once he was told of Henkel's death Coleman said, "I was surprised -- for some reason, I really didn't think that he died.  When they told me, I was like, 'Oh, I'm not going home after this'".

Coleman, 36, now faces life in prison.  Erin Duggan, Manhattan DA spokeswoman, said that he has been charged with murder.

Trevell "G-Dep" Coleman was with Sean Combs' Bad Boy label for a few years starting in 1999.  He had just recently signed with Famous Records.

Coleman claims that his secret was too heavy a burden to bear any longer, and though his family warned him against it, he felt his confession was necessary.  Coleman said, "I told my mom and my girlfriend that I wanted to confess and they both told me to leave it in the past."

Per Coleman his girlfriend, Lyvonnia Copeland, 40, is "pretty peeved".  Copeland is also the mother of his three children.

Coleman puts part of the blame of the shooting on his addiction to drugs because he didn't "think about it" at the time.

Coleman explained, "That's just the life I was living back then.  I started to wonder if all the bad things that happened to me in my life were karma for what I did . . . you start to think 'My happiness is because of someone else's sadness.'  I thought that if I turned myself in, it might give me closure."

Ray Kelly, the NYPD Commissioner questions Coleman's motives and said of the confession, "We'll take it any way we can get it."

Law enforcement said that Coleman has 30 arrests in his criminal record and stated, "This guy had particularly bad luck with getting caught."  Coleman's most recent arrest, this past November, was for trespassing with drugs on city-housing property.

Coleman told the Post, "I haven't been living right.  I always had people around me that were good people, but I was doing the wrong thing. I'm just trying to get right with God.  The only thing I regret is that I have to leave my kids."

Thomas Frederick, a family friend, feels that Coleman's life, and his choices, have been difficult on the people from his neighborhood.  Frederick said, "He was like a celeb to the community.  But after his grandmother who raised him died, about four years ago - He was heavily into PCP - like he wanted to leave this world.

If you have been charged, or turned yourself in, for a criminal act, click here to contact a criminal defense lawyer from our directory for help with your case.