Willie McCoy was finding his voice. Then police shot him 25 times.

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By Erik Ortiz

VALLEJO, Calif. — Willie McCoy’s world revolved around music before a barrage of bullets from six police officers ended his life. Make mature decisions, the Bay Area rapper’s mentors had always told him, and you will make a name for yourself.

Keith Welch Jr., who directed several music videos that included McCoy, watched him over the years transform into a leader, arriving to shoots on time and setting an example for other artists.

“Stay away from the streets,” Welch would urge McCoy, although he didn’t think McCoy was much of a “street guy.” “Stay in the studio.”

“I hear you, Welch,” McCoy would respond.

Associates, family and friends of McCoy, 20, described him as a young man who played peacemaker when those around him got upset. They said that after grappling with immeasurable loss as a boy, McCoy had learned to give generously if he knew others, especially children, needed help.

One month ago, McCoy made a decision that turned fatal: Hungry, with few options for a late-night bite, he stopped at a Taco Bell in his hometown of Vallejo. But according to police, employees found him unresponsive in the drive-thru lane with a handgun on his lap. Officers were called to the scene, and a chain of events ended with them shooting him multiple times, setting off an investigation and stirring up fresh demands for police accountability.

The Taco Bell drive-through, where Willie McCoy was shot and killed, in Vallejo, Calif., on Feb. 28, 2019. Nearly three weeks after six officers reportedly fired into the car of Willie McCoy at this location, the restaurant remains closed.Brock Stoneham / NBC News

For now, McCoy’s loved ones remain in a holding pattern, having celebrated his life during a memorial service last week and preparing in the coming days to privately view officers’ bodycam footage.

The discovery of the stolen and loaded firearm — and claims by police that he was reaching for it when he woke up — have only muddled the narrative in this latest case of officers using lethal force on a black man. The Vallejo Police Department in a statement called “any loss of life … a tragedy,” treading carefully in a city that has not seen the same unrest that has followed more high-profile police shootings elsewhere in the country.

Authorities warn it could take “several months” or longer before the investigation is complete and for the Solano County District Attorney’s Office and other agencies to determine if criminal charges are warranted in McCoy’s death.

“It was shattering to see someone go out in that way,” Welch said. “The world was at his fingertips.”

‘WILLIE WAS A GIVER’

McCoy tackled loss from an early age.

His father, Willie Sr., was a janitor at a high school in Sacramento and died of mesothelioma when McCoy was 8. By the time he turned 12, his mother, Volencia Logan, also died of cancer.

McCoy, the second youngest of several half siblings, was temporarily placed in a group home. At school, he was a natural athlete, excelling in football and basketball, but he dropped out of Vallejo High School around his sophomore year, his family said.

McCoy was tall and lean, a replica of his father, whom he called Pops. The elder McCoy had been a strict disciplinarian when it came to his older children, but had eased up on his two youngest sons.

“As a male of color in this world, you need these words of affirmation, especially from your father,” said McCoy’s older nephew, Shawn McCoy, 28. “To endure the weight of the things he did, that would have broken a lot of people.”

Shawn McCoy poses for a portrait in Oakland, Calif., on March 1, 2019. Shawn gave the eulogy at his uncle Willie McCoy’s funeral, acknowledging that Willie’s name will now be added to a list of black men shot and killed by police.Brock Stoneham / NBC News

McCoy got his GED diploma, but music remained his saving grace, and he yearned for that same success that other big-name rappers from Vallejo, such as E-40 and Mac Dre, achieved. The blue-collar city of about 122,000, which was once home to a bustling naval shipyard before it filed for bankruptcy in 2008, remains one of the most racially diverse in the nation, according to census data, with a roughly even percentage of white, black, Hispanic and Asian residents.

McCoy clung to the mostly black neighborhood of squat homes and dead-end streets known as The Crest. He went by the stage name Willie Bo, and performed with cousins in the group FBG (Forever Black Gods). Their songs permeated with lyrics about money, guns and street violence — familiar themes that often attract attention from local law enforcement.

“What it sounded like is that they needed to conform their lyrics, to look cool,” Welch said. “I saw it more as a cool thing — kids see you on YouTube like you have all this money.”

source: nbcnews.com