Rapper Troy Ave found himself at the center of a deadly shoot out last month during a T.I. concert. When footage surfaced placing the rapper at the scene and discharging a loaded weapon, he was indicted on multiple felony charges but not murder.
The shooting that took place in the green room of Irving Plaza back in May 2016 left three people injured and one dead, as reported by NY Post on the night of the shooting. Ronald McPhatter, one of Troy Ave's (Roland Collins) bodyguards, was fatally shot in the stomach and later died at Israel Hospital.
Video footage surfaced of 30-year-old Collins discharging a loaded firearm that night, but was unclear if anyone was actually wounded by the gunfire. According to TMZ, further ballistic testing of the bullet taken from McPhatter's body, was not a match to the weapon used by Collins in the video, clearing him of a murder charge.
Though the "Doo Doo" rapper was cleared of murder charges, a grand jury still indicted him with an attempted murder charge, along with four counts of criminal possession of a weapon, as declared in legal documents obtained by TMZ. If found guilty, Collins could face several years in prison but, his lawyer, Scott Leemon, seems to believe the video of his client could potentially help in his defense.
"The video does not show everything nor explain what happened in the VIP room before Troy came running out, as a victim, after he was shot," Leemon explained during a TMZ interview.
According to NY Post, some of the patrons present at the time said it was unclear as to what prompted the fight that led to all of the chaos. According to the witness statements, there were two VIP rooms full of people who were waiting for T.I.'s performance to begin. At some point a fight broke out that started on the seventh floor, and somehow made its way down to the second floor where the shooting began.
Once in the green room Collins was seen "stumbling into [the] room, pointing his handgun and firing at least once into the crowd," as captured on the surveillance video and described by TMZ.
Collins received treatment for his gunshot wound to his leg that night at a local hospital, which is where police took him into custody and where he currently remains. His lawyer plans to request he be released on bail at his next hearing.
