A crime scene is pictured with yellow law enforcement line with police car and lights in the background. Carl Ballou/Shutterstock

BALTIMORE, June 27 (UPI) -- Baltimore rapper Lor Scoota was shot and killed in daylight at a busy intersection after leaving a charity event on Friday, police said.

The rapper, whose real name is Tyriece Travon Watson, 23, had left a charity basketball he hosted moments before -- a game calling for "peace in the streets," in which various popular local figures came together to support the idea.


After the event finished, Watson was in his car, approximately a mile from the venue, when an unidentified black male wearing a white bandana stepped onto the road and shot him, Baltimore police said. Watson died a short while later at a local hospital.

Detectives consider the shooting a targeted attack on Watson, who was well-known in the beleaguered city for promoting peace.

"We have to be tired of this. Can #Scoota be a wake up call for us?" tweeted police spokesman T.J. Smith. "He entertained many, now gone, just like that. We are better than this."

As Lor Scoota, he was also one of the Baltimore's most well-known rappers. His 2014 song "Bird Flu" became a hit on YouTube. He also advocated for peace after Freddie Gray's death, doing a series of PSA on local TV, gave talks to teens and read to elementary school kids about Martin Luther King Jr.

"In Baltimore city, once you're doing good, you're a target," said fellow artist, Tadeo. "Nobody wants to see you doing better than they are doing. You try to make it to the top, they're pulling you down so you still here. That's why they say once you do your thing, leave."