Teen killed in triple shooting has long ties to famed Miami rapper Trina

A teenage girl with ties to a South Florida rap star was killed and two others wounded after an overnight triple shooting in Miami, police said Wednesday.

Detectives were still uncertain about the motive for the shooting, but were homing in on some type of domestic squabble. Several law enforcement sources said they don’t believe that the dead teen, Toni Chester, was the intended target.

A woman reached by cellphone who claimed to be Trina’s agent, said Toni, a 17-year-old who also goes by the name “Baby Suga,” is the niece of Trina, a Miami-born rap legend who’s had several Billboard hits. TMZ also reported that sources had confirmed Toni was Trina’s niece.

But Miami police weren’t certain as of Wednesday afternoon. One source said they did believe that Toni’s mother grew up with and is extremely close to the rapper, but that they hadn’t determined if the two were blood relatives.

Miami police also said they believe they knew everyone involved in the shooting, though no arrests had been made by Wednesday afternoon. Police had not named the two males who were shot and taken to the hospital, but said they were expected to survive.

The woman who identified herself as Trina’s publicist, Aleesha Carter, said the rap star was not ready to give a statement and declined to comment on whether Trina was aware of the shooting. Carter noted that Toni was the daughter of Trina’s sister, Laura.

TMZ reported that Trina’s family was “reeling” from the loss of the teenager, whom the “rapper endearingly referred to as Baby Suga.”

The shooting happened at about midnight near the corner of Northwest 62nd Street and 13th Avenue in Liberty City. Toni was dead when police arrived. The two injured men were driven to Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Trina, whom hip-hop artist XXL a decade ago called “the most consistent female rapper of all time,” was given the key to the city of Miami by Mayor Francis Suarez in May, during the city’s first annual Trina Day.

Born and raised in Miami, Trina, whose real name is Katrina Taylor, graduated from Miami Northwestern High. Her father owned a store on 15th Avenue in a building that now has her face painted on it. She shot to prominence in 1998 under Trick Daddy’s guidance. In 2014, Billboard put the Diamond Princess on its list of “31 female rappers who changed Hip-Hop.”