VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — An ongoing dispute that spun out of control, a mother still grieving and searching for answers in the death of her son, and an entertainer badly beaten. That was the incident and the aftermath, when gunfire brought that beef to a bloody end two years ago.

The fight left two people on the edge of death but only one survived. 

“I’m trying to figure out what really happened,” said Catina Washington, whose son Julian was mortally shot at Rick’s Cafe in Virginia Beach two years ago.

“I know that I shot him. I had to have.” That’s how John Arnold remembers the incident. Also known as rapper Nzo Ferrari, he recently released “Rick’s Café”, his version of what happened in hip hop lyrics.

Arnold pulled up to Rick’s to get some take-out in the middle of an early September night in 2016.
Washington was there too, with about ten friends.

Arnold says he didn’t go to the diner that night intending to confront Washington and his friends. “I wouldn’t have gone there if I knew they were there,” Arnold says. “I would have gone to IHOP.” 
 

VIDEO: Exclusive interview with John Arnold

Both Arnold and Washington’s mother agree on one thing – there was bad blood between her son’s group and the entertainer and it was about to boil over. They had already faced off twice before in recent weeks at the Oceanfront. Guns came out, but no violence.

“I have been carrying a gun for over ten years legally,” Arnold says.

Arnold’s rap career was moving ahead. He had just come off a tour with Tech N9ne. He says that’s how the beef really got started, that Washington and his friends were jealous of his money and his career.

Arnold says he was wearing $20,000 worth of jewelry that night and robbery was another motive.

Two very different versions tell what happened next. Arnold says Julian’s group surrounded his car in the diner’s parking lot.

“Julian was on one side. That’s where I shot. But the other guys were already behind me. One of the guys with a gun was behind me, one of the guys who had a gun was in front of me.” Arnold says Julian Washington was not armed.

Washington’s mother says Julian was trying to be a peacemaker.

The windows of Arnold’s Dodge Challenger were down that summer night.

Court records say Washington tried to get Arnold’s gun by reaching into his car. In the struggle, Arnold fired his Glock 19 twice into Washington.

Washington’s friends then began exacting immediate and bloody revenge. They began beating up Arnold, who ended up with severe head injuries and neurological damage. 

“I had to learn how to walk again. I had to learn how to talk again.”

Meanwhile, Washington lay dying in the parking lot from two gunshot wounds.

“We rushed to the hospital,” Catina Washington recalls.  She says at first doctors reassured her, even though her son was hooked up to machines.

“I looked at him. There’s something you can tell. So I’m just holding on – No, God you can’t take my baby from me.” 

Less than three days later, Washington learned there was no longer reason for hope. “They pronounced him dead on (September) 7th because I had to pull the plug.”

VIDEO: Extended interview with Catina Washington

Meanwhile in another hospital Arnold was in a coma from the beating. ”I spent 45 days in the ICU.”

So Arnold actually played two potential roles – shooting defendant and beating victim – and there were two investigations.

“Beat the murder and I made it out the moat.”

But Arnold was never charged in Washington’s death, claiming self-defense.

“Homicide cops gave my bullets and my Glock back.”

Two of Julian Washington’s friends were charged with beating Arnold, but neither was convicted. 

His career continues, but in the eyes of Catina Washington, at her son’s expense.

“When someone didn’t have a gun on you and you had a gun on him. Julian didn’t have a gun.”

The Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office says the case remains open, and encourages anyone with information about what happened to come forward.