In the summer of 2014, the life of 19-year-old Semar McClain, a Black / African American male, was tragically cut short in Racine, Wisconsin. On the afternoon of July 29th, McClain was seen with a 15-year-old named Tommy Canady and other individuals. Witnesses reported that McClain and Canady were discussing trading or selling firearms, with McClain holding a. 380 caliber handgun and Canady a. 38 caliber revolver.
The group was seen together around 4:35 p.m.
Later that evening, around 7:00 p.m., police responded to a call about a man down and discovered McClain's body in the backyard of a residence on the 1300 block of Blake Avenue. He had sustained a fatal gunshot wound to the head, and his pockets were empty. The area where his body was found was not his home, though he was known to have ties to the Racine community.
The investigation into McClain's death quickly led authorities to Tommy Canady. A significant breakthrough came from a tip that directed investigators to Canady's SoundCloud account. Two days after McClain's death, Canady had posted a rap song in which he graphically described shooting and killing McClain. The lyrics referenced the victim by name and detailed the act, providing a chilling confession.
Following this discovery, a search warrant was executed at Canady's home. Police found both the. 380 caliber handgun that had belonged to McClain and the. 38 caliber revolver that witnesses had seen in Canady's possession. Ballistic testing confirmed that the bullet recovered from McClain's body was fired from the. 38 caliber revolver found at Canady's residence. Canady was arrested and charged as an adult with first-degree intentional homicide and armed robbery.
