Friend of T.I. Gunned Down
Rapper T.I. lost a member of his entourage Wednesday morning when his personal assistant, 26-year-old Philant Johnson, was shot to death while riding in a car with the group after they left a Cincinnati nightclub.
Witnesses told the Cincinnati Enquirer that a fight broke out at the Club Ritz when a large group of men became angry that someone was throwing money from the stage during a rapper's performance.
"It was supposed to be for the ladies, but [the money] was hitting the guys in the face," a witness said, "and they were like, 'We got money, so why are you throwing money at us?'"
T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris, and fellow Atlanta-based hip-hop artist Yung Joc had performed at Bogart's, a concert hall near the University of Cincinnati, earlier in the evening and Club Ritz was hosting the Tuesday night party in their honor. Yung Joc is signed to T.I.'s Grand Hustle record label.
The 25-year-old T.I. left the club a little before 3 a.m. with Johnson and several others.
"T.I. was telling his boys, 'Come on, let's go. Let's go,' " a witness told the Enquirer. "And the Cincinnati boys were like, 'Yeah, let's go.'" T.I.'s group was traveling in a van on the I-75 highway when, according to police, they traded gunshots with an unknown number of people following them in two SUVs.
When they arrived at the scene, officers found four people, including Johnson, with gunshot wounds. The other vehicles had fled the scene.
Johnson was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. Janice Gillespie, 22, from Minnesota was admitted and listed in stable condition, according to the Enquirer, while T.I.'s bodyguard and driver were treated and released. T.I. was not injured.
No arrests have been made. Witnesses said that they saw four people whom they thought were locals following the T.I.'s van in what may have been a GMC Tahoe.
The Cincinnati City Council reportedly tried to shut down Club Ritz last year, but the motion failed. Two months later three people were shot outside the nightclub when a fight turned violent. The club's owner, Andrew Williams, said last summer that he and his staff would increase security and traffic control around the venue. Witnesses told reporters that there seemed to be quite a few law enforcement officers on the scene both late Tuesday and early Wednesday.
T.I.'s 2006 album King debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 Apr. 4 and pushed more than 500,000 copies in its first week. At the Vibe Awards in November he won the Street Anthem Award for his 2005 single "U Don't Know Me." He has been featured on tunes with artists ranging from Destiny's Child to The Game.
The Atlanta rapper also appeared in the coming of age roller-rink drama ATL alongside OutKast's Big Boi.
He kicked off a nationwide tour last month and was scheduled to perform in St. Louis Wednesday night.
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