Two Men Shot At Canadian Rap Show

[SNaKe]

Two men were shot when bullets flew during a show headlined by veteran Bronx, NY emcee Lord Finesse in Vancouver, Canada this past weekend.

Word is an altercation broke out on the floor of the Richard's on Richards night club at around 12:30 a.m. Saturday (May 7th) morning. The show featured the aforementioned Finesse, the Chillin Villain Empire of Los Angeles and Vancouver rappers Fourth World, who were on hand to celebrate the release of their new album. Promoter Luovens Remy saw the fight escalate from backstage.

"People were trampled to get out of the way. It was chaos," Remy, 28, told the Toronto Star. "I just saw a stampede of people. I heard the shots. Then I just saw this guy on the ground and his buddy standing over him screaming."

According to Remy, the man lying on the ground was wearing a Fourth World T-shirt and was shot in the face. Remy believes three shots were fired. The 30-year-old man found lying in the venue is still in critical condition while another man, 24, was found in the alley behind the club and suffered a non-life-threatening gun shot wound in his lower body. A third man suffered injuries in the altercation.

Big Rowd (born Rob Henley) of Fourth World is reportedly one of the two men who suffered the more minor injuries. The names of the other victims have yet to be released. Promo items for the group described Rowd as the group's most aggressive rapper.


According to Remy, Fourth World was performing and Lord Finesse was readying to step onstage when someone from the audience threw a bottle at the emcees. Remy says at least one group member left the stage to enter the fight. Howard Chow, spokesman for the Vancouver Police Department, wouldn't comment on whether they had a suspect in custody or had a description of a potential culprit.

Remy, Finesse and 18 other witnesses were taken to the police station for questioning. Chow said the 24-year-old rapper may be questioned in the hospital. Richard's on Richards was closed this weekend for authorities to investigate the crime scene. Reps for the club's management company didn't return calls. The shooting marks the second time guns were fired in a Vancouver night club this month. A man was shot four times and beaten with chairs at the Uranus Lounge strip bar on May 1.

Rap-related shootings have become frequent as of late. Proof of D12 was gunned down in Detroit (April 11). Keith Bender, a man believed to have been shot by Proof, eventually succumbed to his gunshot wounds (April 18). Several weeks later, Brooklyn rapper Gravy was shot in the buttocks outside of New York's Hot 97 radio station (April 26). Just last week (May 1), T.I.'s personal assistant was killed and three others were wounded during a shootout in a Cincinnati highway. The same day, Houston rapper Big Hawk was killed near a friend's home in his hometown.