Jury finds rapper 'Tay-K' guilty of fatally shooting San Antonio man

Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News

After eight hours of deliberations, a Bexar County jury found rapper Taymor “Tay-K” McIntyre guilty of fatally shooting a San Antonio man in 2017. The jury found McIntyre not guilty of capital murder, which could have resulted in a punishment of life in prison without parole.

However, McIntyre was found guilty of the lesser offense of murder. He still faces life in prison but with the possibility of parole.

As state District Court Judge Stephanie Boyd read the not guilty verdict, there was a premature outburst of celebration from McIntyre’s supporters. They were escorted out of the courtroom.

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McIntyre, whose rapper name is “Tay-K” or “Tay-K 47,” is best known for his 2017 single “The Race,” which appeared on Billboard’s Hot 100. The song was released the same day McIntyre was arrested by U.S. Marshals in New Jersey in connection with a 2016 murder case.

The rapper was convicted of killing Mark Anthony Saldivar, 23, who was found dead in the parking lot of a North Side Chick-fil-A restaurant on April 23, 2017.

Prosecutors said McIntyre and his group of friends were in a vehicle with Saldivar before he was shot and killed.

During the two-week trial, prosecutors argued that Saldivar, a photographer, was fatally shot by McIntyre after the rapper attempted to rob him. Saldivar was picked up by McIntyre and his friends after being asked to take photos of the rapper for his new song, prosecutors said.

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Several witnesses who testified during the trial said they remembered seeing a black car stopped at a traffic light at the Loop 410 access road and McCullough Avenue. The witnesses described seeing a front-seat passenger fighting with someone in the back seat and waving a handgun. A man was then pushed out of the car, they said.

Prosecutors said the front seat passenger was McIntyre, and the man who was pushed out of the car was Saldivar.

Anna Delgado, a woman who was in a nearby vehicle, testified that she saw a man jump on the hood of the black car after the light turned green. She said the car then drove into a Chick-fil-A parking lot as the man held on.

In security footage obtained from Chick-fil-A, a black car is seen pulling into the parking lot. Someone then appears to climb on top of the car before they collapse, and the car speeds off.

None of the witnesses were able to identify McIntyre as the front seat passenger or shooter.

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From the beginning of the trial, McIntyre’s attorney, John Hunter, has argued that the police investigation that led to McIntyre’s arrest was “lazy” and “faulty.” He said the lead detective in the case relied too heavily on statements provided to him from other people in the car, including from the driver, Joanna Reyes.

While Reyes was initially charged with capital murder in the case, she was offered a plea deal in exchange for her testimony. She now faces a lesser charge of tampering with evidence. She testified that McIntyre was the front seat passenger and shooter.

Hunter said Reyes was incentivized to lie in her testimony as she sought a plea deal for a lesser charge.

“The state bought and paid for that testimony,” Hunter said.

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Hunter also argued there was no evidence to prove that Saldivar’s passion was photography or that he was robbed of his backpack in the car. No backpack or camera was collected as evidence during the investigation.

In 2019, a Tarrant County jury found McIntyre guilty of a home invasion in 2016 that ended in the death of 21-year-old Ethan Walker. In that case, the rapper was sentenced to 55 years in prison. McIntyre was extradited for his trial in Bexar County.

The jury will begin the punishment phase of the trial this afternoon.

Daily News

Jury finds rapper ‘Tay-K’ guilty of fatally shooting San Antonio man

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