1 Dead, 3 Injured In Shooting At T.I. Concert In NYC
Four people were shot at a T.I. concert at NYC’s Irving Plaza tonight, ABC 7 reports. The shots were fired near the third floor green room at around 10:15 PM while Maino and Uncle Murda were performing, before T.I. (along with guests including Anderson .Paak) was scheduled to take the stage in the 1025-person ballroom-style venue. Witnesses reported hearing at least two gunshots following an argument in the balcony area. A 34-year-old man was shot in the chest and a 33-year-old man was shot in the stomach, and both are currently in critical condition. A 26-year-old woman was shot in the leg and is in serious but stable condition, and a fourth person has reportedly walked into NYU medical center with a gunshot wound. Police tell TMZ that at this point, it’s unclear how many shooters were involved, and they don’t yet have any suspects.
Gunshots just went off at the T.I concert, never been so scared in my life pic.twitter.com/rn0CjpAuaU
— Marco (@markygeezy) May 26, 2016
Evacuated after shots fired while crowd waited for @Tip tonight at @IrvingPlaza pic.twitter.com/2hDT9qgO9t
— Diana Zuluaga (@dmz75) May 26, 2016
.@NYPDnews going into Irving Plaza with shields following shooting @NBCNewYork pic.twitter.com/htpmcU81OC
— Ray Villeda (@RayVilleda) May 26, 2016
In 2009 T.I. was imprisoned after pleading guilty to U.S. federal weapons charges. This is a developing story and will be updated…
UPDATE: According to NYPD, a male victim has died at Bellevue Hospital. He has been identified as Troy Ave’s bodyguard Ronald McPhatter. There are metal detectors at the venue and it’s not clear how the weapon got inside.
RT @MylesMill: .@PIX11News here's @NYPDDetectives Chief Aubry pic.twitter.com/SHZvRiYO7z
— Chris Uño (@CRS_One) May 26, 2016
.@PIX11News police source tells me there's surveillance video of the suspect in the green room with a gun. 3 people shot inside, 1 outside
— Myles Miller—PIX11 (@MylesMill) May 26, 2016
UPDATE 2: ABC reports that Troy Ave was one of the victims. He was shot in the leg and is expected to recover. NY Post adds that the female victim, Maggie Heckster, was visited by 50 Cent in the hospital. “I’m here to support my friend, his girl was shot,” 50 said. “What’s happened here is not good.”
Backstage video during the shooting has emerged via TMZ:
NYPD Commissioner William Bratton has blamed the shooting on rap music.
UPDATE 3: T.I. has released a short statement via Twitter:
Rest In Peace Bro. God bless. pic.twitter.com/Vq6qFnq5bC
— T.I. (@Tip) May 26, 2016
UPDATE 4: Troy Ave himself has been identified as the shooter through surveillance footage, The New York Daily News reports. He had reportedly been feuding with Maino, who was also performing at the show, and ended up accidentally shooting himself in the leg in the chaos. He has been arrested and charged with attempted murder and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, and is expected to face a murder charge pending the results of a ballistics test.
UPDATE 5: Despite the surveillance footage, Troy Ave’s lawyers are claiming that he is the real victim. “What really happened here is Mr. Collins here is the real victim,” attorney Scott Leemon said in court today, The New York Daily News reports. “The person who was killed at this event, he died a hero. He (McPhatter) was his bodyguard. He wasn’t shot by Mr. Collins. He was a lifelong friend…This 11 seconds of video that the NYPD released, it doesn’t say what happened before, it doesn’t say what happened after. The scientific evidence will show he didn’t shoot himself. This was another rush to judgement.”
