The ex-Death Row Records mogul
was reportedly one of three people shot early Sunday morning at 1OAK nightclub
in West Hollywood. The Daily Beast spoke to eyewitnesses.
Controversial hip-hop impresario Marion “Suge”
Knight, co-founder of the rap label Death Row Records, was shot in the early
hours Sunday morning at a nightclub in West Hollywood, California.
According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s
Department, the shooting occurred at approximately 1:37 a.m. inside the
nightclub 1OAK at 9039 Sunset Boulevard. Among the victims were two men—Knight,
49, and an unnamed man, 32—and a 19-year-old woman, who was allowed entry to
the club despite being underage. The suspect(s) have yet to be identified, and
an investigation is ongoing. Meanwhile, all three victims remain in stable
condition at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles.
The shooting happened at a pre-VMAs MTV bash and
album release party hosted by Chris Brown, and multiple eyewitnesses from
inside 1OAK who spoke to The Daily Beast on condition of anonymity have
provided conflicting reports, claiming that anywhere between three and six
shots were fired inside the club. Chris Brown could not be reached for comment
by The Daily Beast.
Knight’s family, meanwhile, issued an exclusive statement to Revolt TV claiming that Knight was an invited
guest of Brown’s.
“The family of Suge Knight ask that you keep Suge
in your prayers and to stray away from the negativity portrayed by the media,”
the statement read. “Suge is currently resting and has lost a lot of blood,
he's human. He's done a lot of things for the community and the culture as a
whole so we ask that you respect that.”
"As I was turning around and walking away from
Chris Brown’s table, I heard three loud bangs. Everyone dropped to the floor,
and then immediately after evacuated."
Katie Clendon, 21, says she was dancing directly in
front of Chris Brown’s table at 1OAK when the incident happened.
“I was dancing with one of my friends,” Clendon
told The Daily Beast. “My other friend called us over to the table she was at
directly across the way. As I was turning around and walking away from Chris
Brown’s table, I heard three loud bangs. Everyone dropped to the floor, and
then immediately after evacuated. One of the men who was shot rushed past me
holding his shoulder and dripping blood. Everyone was screaming and trying to
get out of there as quickly as possible. The cops were immediately on the scene
as we were leaving 1OAK. We saw a man being carried out on a stretcher, then we
were asked to leave the area immediately.”
“It all happened so fast,” she adds. “I’m still in
shock… even worse, their bags were not checked and there were no pat-downs
given before entry.”
When asked
whether the shooter was targeting Brown, as various outlets including the New York Daily News have claimed, Clendon says she couldn’t tell. “I can’t say
whether or not he was targeting Chris. The shots were obviously targeted at his
table. Chris could’ve been the target, but it could have been directed at
someone at his table as well.”
Another eyewitness said, “Chris's boys were having
a tense moment with some other unknown dudes in the club,” just prior to the
shooting.
And yet another eyewitness, who goes by the
Instagram handle @joyawilliams,posted the following video to her Instagram of the aftermath. In the video, you
can see Chris Brown standing on top of a table and yelling at someone, before
being pulled down:
Among the celebrities in
attendance were Justin Bieber, who was reportedly mingling with Brown in a VIP
area prior to the gunfire according to an eyewitness, as well as model Tyson
Beckford, and Black Eyed Peas member apl.de.ap. The Game and his posse were caught on video
by TMZ about an hour
and a half before the shooting getting into an altercation with security at the
door to 1OAK, and the rapper was denied entry to the club, according to a
source connected to 1OAK.
“The Game was coming to hang with Chris and they didn't let him
in, which caused tension outside,” the source told The Daily Beast. “The Game
is connected to the Bloods, and that means Chris is around Bloods.”
Another source informs The Daily Beast that MTV, which was
supposed to host their post-VMAs party at 1OAK, is now shopping the event to
other Los Angeles nightlife venues.
The source also says that 1OAK owners Reza Roohi and Vinny Laresca
were out in Las Vegas partying with Leonardo DiCaprio, Lukas Haas, and Kevin
Connolly when they heard the news of the shooting and “went right into crisis
mode.”
“This was just a regular night of fun on the Sunset Strip, and it
was disrupted by criminals,” said West Hollywood Mayor John D’Amico.
“Hopefully the Sheriff’s Department will find out who the person or persons
were and prosecute them to the full extent of the law.”
This isn’t the first time
Knight’s been shot at a pre-VMAs party. In a similar-sounding incident, he was
shot in the right leg at approximately 12:42 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 28, 2005, in
the Red Room at Miami’s Shore Club. That event was a pre-VMAs party in honor of
Kanye West, and six shots were reportedly fired. Knight was taken to the Mount
Sinai Medical Center in Miami with a fractured leg resulting from a gunshot
wound, according to local police. Rapper The Game was also in attendance at that bash, as well as
Jessica Alba, Eddie Murphy, and Paris Hilton, among others.
“Chris Brown and The Game always travel with gangsters,” an L.A.
nightlife source told The Daily Beast. “This is the kind of thing that happens
with their groups, and has happened more than once—very violent incidents,
gunshots outside the club, etc. There’s a long L.A. nightclub history of this,
especially with The Game.”
Brown, meanwhile, took to Twitter to vent his frustration over the
incident:
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