25 people shot at nightclub
Rapper held on unrelated charges after Little Rock shooting
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A rapper whose concert in Little Rock was the site of a shooting that left 28 people injured was arrested early Sunday on unrelated assault charges while outside an Alabama club where he was performing just 24 hours later, and authorities said several firearms were recovered during the arrest.
Ricky Hampton, 25, of Memphis, Tennessee, also known as Finese 2Tymes, was arrested on outstanding charges of aggravated assault with a gun out of Forrest City in eastern Arkansas, the U.S. Marshals Service said.
A second man also was taken into custody, and two handguns and an assault rifle were seized from the Mercedes in which the two men were riding, said Cliff LaBarge with the U.S. Marshals Service in Alabama.
The firearms will be sent to a crime lab in Arkansas to determine whether they match shell casings found at the scene of the shooting early Saturday at the Power Ultra Lounge, said Little Rock Police Lt. Steven McClanahan.
“I just closed my eyes, got down on the ground and put my hands on my head,” Courtney Swanigan, 23, told The Associated Press.
The shooting capped a violent week in Arkansas’ largest city. Police had responded to a dozen drive-by shootings over the previous nine days but haven’t said whether any of the incidents are related.
“Little Rock’s crime problem appears to be intensifying,” Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in a statement. “Every few days it seems a high-profile shooting dominates the news, culminating with this morning’s event.
A Facebook video posted from inside the club included audio of at least 24 rounds fired in about 11 seconds. Darryl Rankin, who posted the video, said a friend of his who attended the Finese 2Tymes concert with him had a bullet “stuck in his spine.”
Police were summoned about 2:30 a.m. City police said the agency did not believe the shooting was part of a terrorist attack and that no active shooter remained at the scene.
“Some sort of dispute broke out between people inside,” Little Rock Police Chief Kenton Buckner told reporters.
McClanahan described Hampton as a “person of interest” and said the rapper will be extradited to Arkansas so that police can interview him.
McClanahan said no arrests have been made in the shooting in which 25 people between the ages of 16 and 35 suffered gunshot wounds, and three others were hurt afterward. He said police did not recover any weapons at the scene of the shooting, which authorities believe may have been gang-related.
“We are definitely looking at that possibility,” McClanahan said. “We know that gang members were present inside.”
Prison records from the Tennessee Department of Corrections show a Ricky Hampton with the same date of birth, home town and a similar appearance was released from prison in August 2016 after serving six years for two counts of aggravated robbery.
Material advertising the concert by Finese 2Tymes showed a man pointing a gun at a camera, drawing a rebuke from Mayor Mark Stodola.
Hampton was being held Sunday without bond in Alabama. A message posted on the rapper’s Facebook page Saturday offered thoughts and prayers for those injured:
“THE VIOLENCE IS NOT FOR THE CLUB PEOPLE. WE ALL COME WITH 1 MOTIVE AT THE END OF THE DAY, AND THATS TO HAVE FUN.”
A woman who answered a phone number listed on Finese 2Tymes’ Instagram account for booking said the rapper didn’t consider cancelling the Birmingham show, despite the shooting, because he wasn’t responsible for what happened.
The woman didn’t give her name before hanging up.
The volley of gunfire inside the Power Ultra Lounge came so fast that investigators believe multiple people had to have been involved. Police Chief Buckner credited quick work by first responders for there being no fatalities.
City officials said they would move today to shut down the club under a “criminal abatement” program. State regulators suspended the club’s liquor licence Saturday.