North Miami poet Will “Da Real One” Bell was gunned down in an apparent hit early Sunday

The family of a talented North Miami poet who was gunned down in an apparent hit early Sunday is bewildered over why anyone would want to kill someone who spent the better part of his life using his art to inspire others.

Will “Da Real One” Bell’s path took him from a life of crime to national fame as a poet who performed on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, on celebrity albums and at countless other venues, both locally and nationally.

A gunman leapt out of a car and shot Bell, 47, multiple times outside his business, The Literary Cafe and Poetry Lounge, 933 NE 125th St., about 12:40 a.m.
Police detectives said Tuesday that they do not believe Bell was involved in anything that caused his death, but that he had recently fallen into debt. The shooting, police sources said, appeared to be an assassination. One witness told police that after the shooting, the gunman coolly walked away.
Bell’s brother, Curtis Fullwood, said Bell survived too much hardship to die such a cruel death.

“He came too far in life to go like that, shot down in a parking lot. It’s not right,” Fullwood said. Bell grew up in the Edison Court Projects at Northwest Third Avenue and 62nd Street in Miami. In 1989, Bell was arrested for cocaine trafficking and spent 14 months in prison. Those who knew him said he stopped dealing in the street life when he discovered his talent for poetry while incarcerated.