A Florida rapper known as “Ace NH” is accused of killing a pregnant woman in front of her infant son three days after a jury acquitted him on a separate count of double murder.
The suspect, 25-year-old Billy Bennett Adams III, claimed he shot 22-year-old Alana Sims in self-defense, Tampa police said after he was arrested Wednesday.
Sims, who would have turned 23 on February 13, was five months pregnant when she was shot on January 30 on a residential street, where police found her body next to her pickup truck with her sleeping child inside.
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Alana Sims, 22, was the woman found dead on a residential street in Florida’s New Tampa neighborhood, her family said. (Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office/Handout/Tampa Police Department)
Three days earlier, on January 27, a jury in Hillsborough County, Florida found that Adams acted in self-defense when he fatally shot Trevon Albury and Daniel Thompson in a recording studio in November 2020.
“Just days after he was acquitted of a separate offense, our murder suspect did the unthinkable when he killed an innocent woman and her unborn child,” Acting Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said in a statement. “I hope this arrest brings closure to the victim’s family, who are mourning the loss of two loved ones. We are working with the State’s Attorney’s Office to ensure the suspect is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. “.
Alana Sims, 22, was killed in the New Tampa neighborhood of Florida, her family said. (Handout via FOX13 Tampa WTVT)
Sims’s mother said FOX13 Tampa her son was her daughter’s “everything.”
“She shouldn’t have to die young,” said Sims’ mother, who described her daughter as “a lovely soul.”
“And everyone should know that, you know, your loved ones, you want to keep them close because you just don’t know.”
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The victim and suspect knew each other, according to police, and Adams was charged with first-degree murder and killing an unborn child by injuring the mother.
Adams claimed that Sims pointed a gun at him and he accidentally shot her during the struggle over the gun, according to court documents.
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During the double murder trial, prosecutors painted Adams as a cold-blooded killer, but the Tampa rapper took the stand during his trial and said he feared for his life during the fight at the recording studio in Lutz, Florida.
A jury sided with Adams and found him not guilty.
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State’s Attorney Susan Lopez said in a statement that her office disagreed with the jury, but that she “will continue to work with the Tampa Police Department to prosecute him for these latest offenses.”
“What this defendant did is unimaginable,” Lopez said. “Our thoughts and support are with the families of these crime victims. Since the night of the murders, we have worked closely with TPD to arrest this killer.”
