1 arrested in rapper's 2009 shooting death

A Roosevelt man was arrested Friday and charged with murder in the 2009 shooting death in Freeport of an aspiring rapper, police said.

Eric Rucker, 28, of 314 Pennsylvania Ave., was charged with killing Dimitri Forde, 18, of Jamaica, on Aug. 27, 2009.

Homicide Det. Sgt. Gregg Lesmeister said Rucker, himself "a self-proclaimed rapper," was arrested without incident on Main Street and Centre Avenue in Hempstead on Friday morning. Rucker was to be arraigned Saturday in First District Court, Hempstead.

Lesmeister said Forde was at the Garage Productions recording studio at 8 W. Merrick Rd. about 1:30 p.m. when he got into a dispute with Rucker. While in the second-floor doorway of the studio, Rucker shot Forde once in the head and fled, investigators said. Forde, whose identity was not known, died at a hospital at 2:21 p.m., police said.

Forde's identity remained unknown for two days until a published photograph of a tattoo on the his right wrist, "Death before dishonor," was recognized by family.