Charges filed in murder of up-and-coming East St. Louis rapper

An East St. Louis man has been charged with murder in the shooting death of an up-and-coming rapper, the St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s Office said.

Teran D. Jeffries, 32, was charged Friday with the first-degree murder of Cedric Gooden, known professionally as Cold Kase, who was killed in the parking lot of a Gas Mart convenience store at 84th and State streets.

Jeffries was also charged with being a felon in possession of a weapon. Charging documents say Jeffries had a 7.62 caliber semiautomatic firearm. He had previously been convicted of armed robbery in November 2014.

Jeffries is being held at the St. Clair County Jail on $2.5 million bond. He does not have an attorney yet, according to the St. Clair County Circuit Clerk’s website.

In the days after the shooting, fans of Gooden gathered across the street from the gas station to remember the rapper and set up a makeshift memorial at the Gas Mart.

Fans called Gooden the “Nipsey Hussle of East St. Louis.” Hussle, who was born Ermias Joseph Asghedom, was an American rapper, entrepreneur, and community activist. They said he encouraged neighborhood kids to pursue their educations and would offer them money on the promise that they would go home after dark.

This story was originally published September 27, 2019 at 4:00 PM.