Ameer Golston

Ameer Golston, a 24-year-old rapper from Chicago known professionally as AAB Hellabandz, was building a name for himself in the music world. Born and raised in Chicago, the young Black man began gaining recognition for his tracks in 2016 and developed a following of over 50,000 on his Instagram, where he shared his music and lifestyle. He was known as a peer of fellow Chicago artist Lil Durk and was seen by many as a rising figure in the city's drill scene. His professional motto was "Always About Business," a mindset that guided his career. In the months before his death, he made headlines for being seen with model Blac Chyna.

The promise of his career was violently cut short in the early morning hours of Saturday, May 11, 2019, in Miami Beach, Florida. Golston was in South Florida during the popular Rolling Loud hip-hop festival, though he was not a scheduled performer. At approximately 2:37 a.m., he was outside the well-known Cameo Nightclub on Washington Avenue when he was ambushed. The attack was sudden and brutal, sending bystanders on the crowded street running for cover. The gunman fired multiple shots, and Golston was struck several times, collapsing in the middle of Española Way. A second person was also wounded in the attack and taken to a local hospital in stable condition. Ameer Golston was pronounced dead at the scene.

The brazen assassination-style shooting on a busy street prompted an intense investigation by the Miami Beach Police Department. Detectives immediately released surveillance footage to the public, showing people fleeing in chaos as the suspect, a man police described as being between 25 and 35 years old, jogged away from the scene. The investigation was complex, requiring detectives to piece together evidence from surveillance videos, telephone records, and the movements of the suspect's associates. Miami Beach homicide detective Alberto Porro described the crime as "pretty brazen to assassinate somebody in the middle of the street, next to a nightclub that was packed."

The investigation revealed that both Golston and his suspected killer were known to law enforcement. At the time of his death, Golston had an active warrant from Atlanta for attempted murder and armed robbery. Furthermore, a police deposition had named Golston as the alleged shooter in the unsolved 2015 murder of Christopher Hooper at a nightclub in the Chicago suburb of Markham. Detectives came to believe the Miami Beach shooting was an act of retaliation for that past crime.

Nearly two years after the murder, in May 2021, the investigation culminated in an arrest. Miami Beach detectives, working in close collaboration with the Chicago Police Department, identified the suspect as Austin Hall, another Chicago native. Investigators learned that Hall had recently been convicted on an armed robbery charge in Chicago and had traveled to Miami Beach before he was scheduled to turn himself in to begin his prison sentence. Police believe he came to Florida specifically to settle a score with Golston. Porro credited the Chicago PD, stating, "Without them, this would be an unsolved case right now."

Miami Beach detectives traveled to Chicago to arrest Hall, who was then 26 years old. He was extradited to Miami-Dade County to face justice for the killing. Austin Hall was charged with first-degree murder. The evidence against him was built "slowly and surely," according to Detective Porro, to ensure there would be "no doubt" when the case went before a judge. As of the latest reports from May 2021, Hall was in custody in Miami-Dade County awaiting trial for the murder of Ameer Golston.