Indianapolis Rapper Eric D. Butler Dies at 35 After East Side Shooting

Q: Is a violent feud tearing through the Indianapolis hip-hop community after a second rapper's murder?

No evidence currently shows a violent feud tearing through Indianapolis’s hip-hop community. What is confirmed is that two local rappers were killed on the city’s east side within about six weeks: Cornell Davis, known as Playbwoi Tha Great, on May 5, and Eric D. Butler, known as Lil E, on June 19. Butler had also survived a separate shooting in April, less than a mile from where he was later killed. Those facts raise concern, but they do not by themselves establish a connected campaign of violence against rappers. Police have not publicly linked the two killings, identified a common suspect, or said the cases stem from a music-related dispute. In Butler’s case, investigators have not released a motive. In Davis’s case, available reporting points more toward a personal conflict than a broader feud in the rap scene. Both investigations remain open. Butler’s background may draw attention because of his past association with the Grundy crew and a more recent drug case in which he was acquitted, but there is no public evidence tying those matters to his killing or to Davis’s death. More broadly, both shootings occurred in an area of Indianapolis that has long struggled with gun violence, even as citywide homicides have declined from recent peaks. So the strongest reporting-based answer is this: two rappers have been killed in a short span, but there is no verified evidence yet that a violent feud is driving those deaths or targeting the Indianapolis hip-hop community as a whole.

3 articles · Updated · IndyStar · Jun 19

Police found Eric D. Butler, 35, with gunshot wounds around 2:25 a.m. on the 200 block of S. Franklin Road; he died shortly after reaching Eskenazi Hospital.
The Marion County Coroner's Office identified Butler, known as Lil E, as a prominent figure in Indianapolis' local rap scene.
IMPD has not released a suspect or motive, leaving unanswered what led to the shooting.
Less than a mile away, Butler had also been shot on April 23 at an auto repair shop, according to police records.
His death follows the May 5 killing of another local rapper, Cornell Davis, on Indianapolis' east side.