Nov 9th Shooting Not Involved With 50 Cent's Movie

[SNaKe]

A Pittsburgh-area movie theater may have jumped the gun in blaming rapper 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Tryin' on a fatal shooting at the multiplex.

Local police claim an old prison beef, not the influence of Fiddy's new flick, was the cause of the Nov. 9 shooting at the Loews Cineplex in West Homestead, Pennsylvania.

Shelton Flowers, 30, was gunned down in the lobby of the theater after an opening night screening of 50 Cent's debut film. An altercation that originated in the bathroom spilled out into the concession area, and Flowers was shot three times in the chest and thigh. He was immediately taken to an area hospital, but doctors were unable to save him.

Following the incident, theater management wasted no time in yanking the film from its screens. Fiddy, however, played down the role of his movie in the murder. "I feel for the victim's family in this situation," the rapper, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, said on ABC's The View. "But you know, these weren't kids. This was a 30-year-old man [who] had a dispute with three other guys."

On Tuesday, police arrested and charged Larue Graves, 30, with the murder, after receiving an anonymous tip. Graves was apprehended at a local motel, where he was staying with a girlfriend and registered under a fake name.

Police recovered a handgun from Graves' motel room, though no word yet on whether it's the same weapon used in the shooting.

Investigators still have no clear motive for the incident, though Allegheny County Police superintendent Charles Moffatt did acknowledge that a feud may have been brewing since the two men were in prison together in the mid-1990s.

Graves was paroled in June, after serving more than a decade behind bars for a 1993 manslaughter charge for the shooting death of an Oakland man over gang colors.

Flowers was serving his time for pleading guilty in 1995, 1997 and 1998 to assault, reckless endangerment, theft and other various charges.

Moffatt said it was too early to tell whether anyone would be eligible for a $1,000 reward offered by Pittsburgh Crime Stoppers or the $2,500 put up by Loews.

Also still up in the air: Whether the arrest will lead to Fiddy's flick making it back into the theater.

"We are trying to move past this tragedy of a couple of weeks ago, and feel like we have made strides towards that end," Loews corporate spokesman John McCauley said in a statement Tuesday. "We will continue to do our best to provide a friendly, safe and secure environment for our patrons."

Graves is currently being held at Allegheny County Prison.