The Houston Police said that Patrick Xavier Clark, 33, was being charged with murder, and that Takeoff had been an “innocent bystander.”
A 33-year-old man has been arrested on a murder charge in the fatal shooting of the rapper Takeoff outside a bowling alley in Houston last month, the city’s police chief said Friday.
The police described Takeoff as an innocent bystander, saying that he had been killed after an argument, which had not involved him, led to gunfire.
Chief Troy Finner of the Houston Police Department announced in a news conference that the man, Patrick Xavier Clark, was arrested in eastern Houston on Thursday evening. Another man, Cameron Joshua, 22, who was at the scene, was arrested last month and charged with unlawful carrying of a weapon.
Takeoff, the 28-year-old rapper who had been one-third of the chart-topping group Migos, was shot and killed on Nov. 1 after a private party at 810 Billiards & Bowling in downtown Houston, as a group of more than 30 people gathered near the front door, the police said. Shots were fired from at least two weapons, they said. Takeoff, who was born Kirsnick Khari Ball, was killed.
The police said that the shooting occurred after some at the party played a dice game, and an argument broke out.
“I can tell you that Takeoff was not involved in playing in the dice game, he was not involved in the argument that happened outside, he was not armed,” said Sgt. Michael Burrow of the Houston Police. “He was an innocent bystander.”
Chief Finner said that Takeoff had been in the “wrong place at the wrong time.”
Of the people present when the shooting occurred, no one stayed on the scene to give a statement to police, Sergeant Burrow said, urging those who were there to come forward. Investigators determined through video surveillance, cellphone footage and other physical evidence that Mr. Clark fired the lethal shot, he said.
“It certainly, I think, will bring some comfort to the family, though it does not bring Takeoff back,” said Mayor Sylvester Turner of Houston, who spoke of the importance of stopping gun violence at the news conference announcing the arrest.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office, which is prosecuting the case, has asked for Mr. Clark’s bail to be set at $1 million, asserting in court documents that he had been making plans after the fatal shooting to travel to Mexico and should be considered a flight risk. It was not immediately clear if Mr. Clark had a lawyer representing him.
Migos helped define the most recent incarnation of Atlanta’s influential rap sound, and Takeoff was mourned by thousands there at a funeral last month.
In a speech at the funeral, Quavo, Takeoff’s uncle and a member of Migos, credited Takeoff with having the dream that helped make the group one of the biggest rap acts of the last decade.
“He never worried about titles, credit or what man got the most shine, that wasn’t him,” Quavo said, according to a copy of his speech that he posted to Instagram.
Known for hits like “Versace” and “Bad and Boujee,” Migos earned two Grammy nominations and helped usher in a new period of dominance for Atlanta music. The group’s punchy style brought the trio the top of the charts and influenced other artists.
Offset, the third Migos member, wrote in an Instagram post that Takeoff’s death had “left a hole in my heart that will never be filled.”
Source: Music - nytimes.com
