'Much loved' Asbury Park gang slay victim a doting father, but no stranger to the streets

ASBURY PARK — God Justice Allah, a 21-year-old city man, was heading to a store with friends on a Thursday afternoon in February when a car sped toward them, a 9mm handgun extended from the passenger side window.

The group ducked and ran from the gunfire. Allah, who suffered the only injury reported, was struck by one round in the chest. He collapsed on the street and died that day despite efforts to save him, adding to the gang-related death toll in Asbury Park and Neptune.

The two men charged with the murder of Allah were members of the MOB Piru set of the Bloods street gang and people with Allah belonged to their bitter rivals, the Crips, authorities said.

Family remembered Allah as being much loved, loyal to friends and family, and accepting of the growing responsibilities he was beginning to shoulder as a young father.

But he was also a devoted member of the Crips, said his longtime girlfriend.

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'Loved by many'

Allah graduated from Asbury Park High School in 2019 where he played on the school’s varsity football team as a wide receiver and defensive tackle. According to online team records and video highlights, the 6-foot-1-inch tall, 185-pound Allah made a 50-yard reception against Holmdel on Oct. 17, 2018.

He went on to study at Lincoln Tech to be an HVAC technician but left after six months to take care of his ailing maternal grandmother who has since died, his mother, Rhashawna Butler, said. He planned on returning to the vocational school.

At the time of his death, Allah was working the late shift for the United Parcel Service in Eatontown. Before then, he washed dishes at the Brickwall Tavern on Cookman Avenue in Asbury Park, now called Homesick, Butler said.

In June, Allah became the father of a baby girl, Royalty Allah.

Butler and Allah’s father, God Allah Davis, plan to help raise the child, she said.

“His daughter will never get to know him, the special type of person that he was, the loveable and caring type of person that he was,” she said. “It tears me apart. He wasn’t just my son. He was my only child.”

Allah's paternal grandmother, Wanda Modeste of Asbury Park, remembered her grandson as someone his friends looked up to.

"He took care of his friends. He loved his mom and loved his dad. He was loved by many," she said. "He was a shining star. When I look at his picture, I just break down."

Private life as Crips gang member Traum Wicc

But the mother of his 10-month-old daughter and longtime girlfriend, Natalie Soto, 21, of Long Branch, painted a more complex picture of Allah.

She told the Asbury Park Press that Allah became a member of the Crips street gang at a young age. He went by the street name Traum Wicc and used a private Instagram account to profess his loyalty to the street gang. Soto said she knew little about his activities with the Crips, described by experts as a drug distribution organization, as just about all street gangs are.

"I was scared for him. I would tell him don't try to do too much, you could get hurt," Soto said. "He would always tell me, he's all right. 'I got it. I'm all right. I got this.'"

If Allah engaged in the gang's criminal activities, he managed to evade law enforcement as an adult. The only two entries on his record are for two traffic violations in Asbury Park in June 2020. One was dismissed. The other cost him $290.

Soto and Allah first met each other at Monmouth Mall in 2018, when they were both 16, and became a couple five months later. They had an on-again, off-again relationship, Soto said. But after the birth of Royalty, they began talking about moving to North Carolina as a family and getting a home and a car together.

She recalled Allah as "always really outgoing. He was never mad or sad. He was the light in the room."

But she also mentioned a hardened side to her boyfriend, a side that his daughter started to alter. His devotion to Royalty started to compete with the time he spent with fellow Crips, she said.

"A lot of times it was him being a tough guy, but his toughness kind of went away when she came. He was just so sweet to her. It was like things you never saw him do, he did it with her," she said. "He was an amazing dad. He was always about her."

Allah was on time with money for the child, always ready to drop off diapers and food if needed, she said.

But all that came to an end on Feb. 2.

That morning she and Allah agreed over the phone to begin seeing each other again, she said. Then he spent a half hour with his daughter and Soto on Facetime. He told Soto that he had to go to the store with his friends who she could hear in the background.

"God always had a big team with him," she said.

Two hours later, Soto received a call about his death.

"He was just my first love and everything is in the garbage now," she said through sobs while holding the baby.

She worries about her daughter.

"Royalty calls for him every day," she said.

Ken Serrano covers crime, breaking news and investigations. Reach him at 732-643-4029 or at kserrano@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Slain Asbury Park man a doting father, but no stranger to the streets