Kriti Mehrotra
It was early 2011 when the entire world turned upside down for a few individuals owing to a drive-by shooting that resulted in the death of 22-year-old mother of four Julian Jones. After all, as profiled in Netflix’s ‘Untold: Shooting Guards,’ her death was a mistake at the hands of ex-NBA athlete Javaris Crittenton because his target was actually Trontavious Stephens. The Atlanta native believed the latter to be behind an armed robbery he was a victim of, so he sought revenge, unaware it would culminate in him murdering an innocent bystander.
Trontavious Stephens Became Affiliated With Gangs as a Teenager
Born in 1993 on Cleveland Avenue in East Atlanta, Georgia, Trontavious Stephens reportedly grew up surrounded by criminality owing to the presence of several gangs in the area. Thus, unfortunately, he kind of ended up absorbing their behavior over the years and got expelled from high school at the age of 15/16 (in 10th grade) owing to constant fighting and poor attendance. He never enrolled in another school again, but he did reportedly try to obtain his General Education Diploma (GED) independently, only to not be able to pass because of weak math.
That’s when Trontavious really started going down the wrong path as he put his dreams of becoming a chef one day on the back burner and just focused on being a working teen dad. By this point, owing to a short stint at the county juvenile detention center at age 11, he already had gang connections that had turned into him joining the Sex, Money, and Murder gang (SMM). This later led to him becoming a part of Raised on Cleveland (ROC) too, which is allegedly affiliated with not just Cleveland Avenue but also the Bloods street gang, just like SMM.
Trontavious Stephens Allegedly Robbed Javaris Crittenton at Gunpoint
By the time 2011 rolled around, Trontavious was better known as Lil Tic, Tick, or Slug on the streets of Atlanta, who was also reportedly known to be involved in betting, gambling, and armed robberies. So, he, along with both his elder brothers, DeMario Stephens and Demontinez Stephens, and Antonio Sumlin, were identified as the robbers who mugged Javaris at gunpoint on April 20, 2011. According to reports, the former NBA player and his cousin, Douglas Tavaris Gamble, had left a barbershop at 10:50 pm that night, shortly following which four men stopped them on the streets and helped themselves to all their personal items, cash, and accessories, which totaled more than $55,825. According to records, Javaris did go to the police, asserting that apart from his earnings and cash, the robbers had taken a black diamond necklace worth $25,000 and a black diamond watch worth $30,000.
However, shortly after, as per the aforementioned series, the former athlete said he would handle the situation himself and walked away, only to then investigate the robbery himself. That’s when he reportedly learned of Trontavious, leading him to decide that he would seek revenge. Therefore, per records, on August 14, 2011, Javaris opened fire at 50 Mount Zion, where the Demontinez Stephens resided, but thankfully no one got hurt. Merely 5 days later, on August 19, he fired his weapon outside the residence of 2911 Macon Drive upon seeing Lil Tic, but he ended up hitting Julian Jones too. The latter sadly passed away, so once evidence, witness statements, and Trontavious’ statements were corroborated, he was arrested on August 29. Then, in 2015, upon pleading guilty to lesser charges, he was sentenced to 23 years in prison for his offenses, only to be released after 10 years.
Although Under Probation, Trontavious is Now Moving Forward in Life
As the years passed by, Trontavious continued to be a part of ROC, which is claimed to be a hybrid blood sect known to be highly aggressive, extremely violent, and engaged in several criminal activities. Therefore, he does have a relatively extensive criminal record, too, yet he has never done any major stints in prison, meaning he has spent most of his life on Central Avenue. However, things changed for him around the mid-2010s as he, Walter Murphy, and Jeffery Williams (better known as rapper Young Thug) established a separate organization by the name of Young Slime Life (YSL).
According to Trontavious’ own testimony, their aim was to have YSL be a positive step forward from ROC, which means they wanted it to be far away from any criminal activity or association. He asserted that it started out and primarily served as just a record label, so their focus was music and only music, yet in 2022, they were hit with a RICO charge that claimed it was a gang too. The allegation accused the company’s founders and executives of running YSL as a criminal street gang called Young Slime Life while simultaneously operating it as a hip-hop music record label called Young Stoner Life. Thus, Trontavious was indicted too, but he ended up pleading guilty to just one count of conspiracy to violate Georgia’s RICO Act in December 2022 in exchange for 8 years on probation.
Later on, Trontavious testified during Young Thug’s trial, but some of his statements regarding which individuals present in the courtroom were gang members and what they did under YSL were often contradictory. In the end, Young Thug also accepted a plea deal in exchange for 5 years in prison, 15 years of probation, and a backlog of 20 years in prison if probation is violated. Therefore, today, at the age of 32, it appears as if Trontavious or Lil Tic is leading a relatively quiet life under state supervision, all the while still residing on Cleveland Avenue in East Atlanta. As for his professional standing, from what we can tell, he is reportedly working in traffic control and is a commercial driver too.
Read More: June Woods: Where is Julian Jones’ Adoptive Mother Now?
