The rising rapper and musician Kevin Fret, who had been hailed as one of Latin trap’s first openly gay artists, has been shot dead at the age of 24.
Fret was shot at eight times while riding a motorbike in the Puerto Rican capital of San Juan early yesterday morning (January 10), local police confirmed. Authorities also clarified that Fret’s death took the number of murders in Puerto Rico this year to 22.
An investigation into the murder is now underway, with police searching for another man who was with Fret when he was found but quickly left the scene on a motorbike.
Confirming his death, Fret’s manager Eduardo Rodriguez described the artist as an “artistic soul” and a “big-hearted dreamer”.
He continued: “There are no words that describe the feeling we have and the pain that causes us to know that a person with so many dreams has to go.
“We must all unite in these difficult times, and ask for much peace for our beloved Puerto Rico … He still had a lot left to do.”
Fret’s debut solo single ‘Soy Asi’ – which you can see the video of above -– arrived last year and proved to be his breakthrough. Speaking to Paper magazine in 2018, Fret declared: “I’m a person that doesn’t care what anybody has to say.
“I’m going to act like I don’t give a damn about what anybody has to say, with my blonde hair, my black nails, showing my stomach, glittery from head to toe.
“Young gay guys or young lesbians … are looking at me now like a role model, like wow, if he did it, and he don’t care what anybody else has to say, I can do it.”
Back in June, Fret was reportedly charged with aggravated battery in Miami after he threw a metal bottle at a person that the artist claimed was being homophobic towards him.