Two more YBC rappers are accused of murder. One said he was at the shooting but didn’t fire a gun.

Quamere Hall doesn’t deny that he was at the scene of the slaying of Sharif King, his attorney said Wednesday — he just didn’t fire the guns that killed him.

His friend and fellow rapper Mark Johnson, on the other hand, is another story, Hall told detectives.

Johnson and Hall, better known as rappers “Yak Yola” and “Mere Pablo,” respectively, were arrested earlier this year and charged with shooting and killing King, 34, last summer. The two men appeared in court for the first time on Wednesday to face the wide-ranging evidence prosecutors said they have tying them to the murder and a prior carjacking.

Both men are affiliated with the West Philadelphia-based gang the Young Bag Chasers, or YBC, law enforcement sources say.

First, around 1:30 a.m. on July 8, 2023, the two men held a young woman at gunpoint at a gas station in North Philadelphia, said Assistant District Attorney Robert Wainwright.

“Do you want to die tonight?” one of them asked the woman before fleeing in her black Acura, she said.

Later that same day, around 1:30 p.m., the prosecutor said, Hall, Johnson, and at least two others drove the Acura to the 5200 block of Jefferson Street. For nearly 30 minutes, he said, they sat outside a corner store, waiting for someone who resembled one of their Parkside rivals to pass by.

“They figured anyone coming from that block who matched the description of a relatively young Black man would be connected to their rival group,” Wainwright said.

When King, who he said was not affiliated with any gangs, walked by the car, at least two people started shooting at him out the window. Johnson then got out of the driver’s seat of the car and shot him again at close range, Wainwright said, while Hall followed and fired additional times. King was shot 15 times, he said, and died at the hospital shortly afterward.

Cell-phone records placed Hall, 22, and Johnson, 27, near the scene of the carjacking and before the shooting, Wainwright said. Surveillance video showed one of the shooters wearing distinct green-and-black shoes and a camouflage face mask that detectives said matches clothing Johnson regularly wore in photos on his Instagram account.

And in Johnson’s Instagram records, said Detective Ryan Moore, was a voice memo where he discussed the shooting, at times in detail. Moore said someone was questioning why an innocent man was targeted, but Johnson, he said, “was adamant that this murder was valid in the war.”

Eventually, homicide Detective Matthew Burkheimer took the stand, and Johnson’s attorney, Doug Stern, asked whether anyone had identified Johnson at the scene.

The detective went silent. Hall’s attorney, Max Kramer, looked to the judge with concern.

“Yes,” Burkheimer said.

Hall did.

After Hall was arrested in early August, Burkheimer said, he admitted to detectives that he was at the scene of the shooting but was seated between two people in the backseat of the car. He insisted he did not get out of the car or shoot King, Burkheimer said, but acknowledged he parked the getaway vehicle near his house afterward.

Hall also eventually identified Johnson as the shooter in the surveillance video, Burkheimer said, but said he didn’t know anyone else who was in the car.

Burkheimer clarified that Hall’s testimony did not lead to Johnson’s arrest. A warrant had already been issued and police were looking for him before Hall spoke with police, he said.

Wainwright said he does not believe Hall is telling the whole truth, and noted that he matches the physical description of the second gunman who got out and shot King as he tried to get away. What’s more, he said, a month after the killing, Hall was arrested with a handgun that ballistics tests later showed was used to kill King. (Hall had pleaded guilty to illegal gun possession in that case a few months before he was arrested and charged with murder.)

Kramer said the weapon could have changed hands multiple times before ending up in Hall’s possession. He said there is no way to objectively identify Hall as one of the shooters. Stern said the same of Johnson.

“As horrible as it may be,” Kramer said, “… Mr. Hall is merely present.”

Municipal Court Judge Patrick F. Dugan ultimately decided there was sufficient evidence to hold both men on all charges, allowing the case to move toward a potential trial.

“I hear these cases all the time, and this is worse than how we depict the wild, wild West,” Dugan said.

After the hearing, Kramer said he had hoped Hall’s statements would not come up in court and is worried for his safety.

“He’s extremely scared, and his family is, too,” Kramer said. “He has already been moved to another jail. He should be in a different county. … But even then, we know they can still find you.”