The capital murder trial of Tay-K, born Taymor McIntyre, continued Monday with Joanna Reyes, the rapper’s ex-girlfriend, taking the stand as a key prosecution witness. Reyes offered detailed and emotional testimony, identifying Tay-K as the person who fatally shot photographer Mark Anthony Saldivar during an attempted robbery in 2017.
According to Reyes, she was dating Tay-K at the time and had helped him set up what she believed would be a photoshoot. She reached out to Saldivar through Instagram and picked him up in an SUV alongside McIntyre, Jalen Bell, and Jeremiah Rodriguez.
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Reyes testified that while driving, Saldivar decided to postpone the shoot and asked to be dropped off at North Star Mall. But at a stoplight on McCullough Avenue, things turned violent. She said McIntyre pulled a gun on Saldivar and demanded his backpack. When Saldivar refused, the group began to physically assault him.
Saldivar was eventually pushed out of the car but held onto the hood. Reyes said McIntyre then pointed the gun at her and ordered her to get him off. When she couldn’t, she said he leaned out of the vehicle and fired the fatal shot outside a Chick-fil-A.
“He opened the door and leaned out on one leg,” she told the court, through tears. “He shot him.”
After the shooting, Reyes said they drove off. She claimed that Bell congratulated Tay-K, saying, “You caught your first body,” and gave him a high five. She also testified that Tay-K and Bell took Saldivar’s backpack as they fled.
Reyes admitted she didn’t go to authorities right away because Tay-K allegedly threatened her and her family’s lives. In exchange for her testimony, Reyes accepted a plea deal for tampering with evidence. She’s facing 10 years of probation and has not yet been sentenced.
Tay-K, already serving 55 years for his role in a separate 2016 murder case, is facing life in prison without parole if convicted in the Saldivar case.
Testimony in the trial is set to continue this week.
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