LOCAL MAN ACCUSED OF SENDING DEATH THREATS TO JAY-Z AND BEYONCE

Category: Chronicle Archives Published on Thursday, 06 August 2009 20:00 Written by Michigan Chronicle

Within the parameters of hip-hop and rap music, rappers having beefs with each other is not uncommon.  Lately, it has also been used as a publicity stunt  or artists to boost record sales and win new fans.
   
However, Detroiter Leon Desmond’s interpretation of the infamous yet celebrated rap beef has won him some jail time.  
   
Barrett, 37,  has been arrested and charged by police for sending death threats to rap star/business mogul Jay-Z and his wife, superstar singer/actress Beyoncé Knowles.  He reportedly has also sent threatening letters to the NFL Hall of Fame in Ohio, NFL Commissioner Roger Goddell, NFL star and Detroit-born Jerome Bettis, and local radio personality Tune Up Man.
   
According to reports, a complaint was filed earlier this week, accusing Barrett of sending more than a dozen hostile and threatening letters to the musical super couple between December 2006 and April 2009.  He was under the investigation of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.  
   
In one of the letters, dated in August 2007, Barrett said, “I’m getting ready to start killing some more people.  Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Jerome Bettis and Tune Up are the first four people I’m getting ready to kill.”
   
In another one of the letters addressed to Bettis and his family, Barrett said, “We do not want to have a gunfight with them, but if we have to, we will.  I guess it’s going to be another Virginia Tech massacre all over again in Detroit.”
   
Barrett’s letters were handwritten and and he put his home address on most of the letters.
   
U.S. Magistrate Judge R. Steven Whalen ordered a mental evaluation for Barrett when he appeared in court on Wednesday.  Whalen released Barrett on an unsecured bond until his preliminary hearing on Aug. 24.

Barrett denies sending the threatening correspondence.