Jazz Musician Lawrence Leathers Killed in Domestic Violence Assault

Grammy Award-winning jazz musician Lawrence Leathers, 37, was killed during a brutal attack in New York City.

Leathers became a world-renowned drummer after attending The Juilliard School.

The acclaimed musician was murdered during a physical assault at his apartment building in the Bronx on Sunday, June 3, according to published reports. His landlord found the drummer unresponsive in the building’s stairwell.

New York City’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner told People magazine the cause of death was homicidal asphyxia with compression of the neck.

Related: New Details Emerge in Domestic Violence Death of Jazz Musician Lawrence Leathers

Leathers’ death occurred during an argument with his girlfriend, 41-year-old Lisa Harris. At some point during the altercation, a 28-year-old Brooklyn man named Sterling Aguilar intervened, authorities said.

The official complaint alleges that Aguilar repeatedly punched Leathers in the face while Harris held him in a deadly chokehold. Once Leathers fell unconscious, prosecutors alleged Aguilar then dumped his body in the stairwell.

Prosecutors said Leathers was attacked for 30 minutes. They alleged he was chocked with such force that some of the bones in his neck broke. After he died, prosecutors said Harris dragged Leathers’ body to the stairwell of their building.

The musician’s landlord said he could not be saved, telling the New York Daily News: “I touched his neck and I said, ‘This boy is dead.'”

Both Harris and Aguilar were initially charged with assault, but those charges have since been upgraded to first- and second-degree manslaughter and criminal negligent homicide.

Leathers was born in Lansing, Michigan. He began playing the drums professionally as a teenager, and moved to New York to attend Juilliard. He went on to win two Grammys with the Aaron Diehl Trio for backing jazz vocalist Cecile McLorin Salvant on the albums Dreams and Daggers and For One to Love.

A beloved fixture on New York’s jazz scene, Leathers regularly performed at Smalls Jazz Club and Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, according to local media reports.

In a tribute on Instagram, fellow drummer E.J. Strickland described Leathers as talented and supportive.

“One of the most musical, swingingest, honest drummers out here. Whenever I saw him play, I learned a great deal more about accompaniment, feel, & touch,” Strickland shared. Also, one of the most supportive musicians out here on the scene. Nowadays, there are so many that are so quick to discredit, downplay, & disrespect their peers, youngbloods, & elders. Not Lawrence. Always positive, supportive, & loving.