U.S. indictment adds bodyguard of rapper at club
Charge related to shootout
A Memphis man who was a bodyguard for rapper Ricky Hampton, who uses the stage name Finese2Tymes, was formally indicted this week on two gun charges, at least one of which is related to a July 1 shootout inside the Power Ultra Lounge in downtown Little Rock.
The indictment, handed up Thursday by a federal grand jury and filed Friday, adds Kentrell Dominique Gwynn’s name to a July 6 indictment against Hampton.
The indictment continues to charge Hampton with being a felon in possession of a firearm on June 25, when he was videotaped carrying a machine-gun-style pistol outside Club Envy in Forrest City, where he had just finished performing.
The back windshield of a woman’s car was shot out, and she was grazed in the neck by a bullet. She has told police that Hampton fired the shot, but he has denied firing the gun that he was pictured holding as he yelled at her to move out of the way of his entourage.
The next weekend, Hampton was performing at the now-closed Power Ultra Lounge at 220 W. Sixth St. in Little Rock when gunfire broke out. Police have said multiple shooters fired a total of 20 to 40 shots that left 25 people with gunshot wounds that were not considered life-threatening.
Hampton hasn’t been charged in the Little Rock shooting, but Gwynn was charged July 18 in a federal criminal complaint with providing a firearm to a convicted felon, providing armed security to a convicted felon and conspiracy to commit those crimes. Authorities said Gwynn’s charges were related to the Little Rock shooting.
The criminal complaint authorized authorities to detain Gwynn until the next regularly scheduled meeting of the grand jury, which on Thursday indicted Gwynn on the first two charges but not on a conspiracy charge.
The indictment alleges that from about May 26 through July 2, Gwynn provided the machine-gun-style pistol to Hampton, knowing that Hampton was a convicted felon and couldn’t possess a gun. It also alleges that from sometime in May until July 2, while working for Hampton and knowing Hampton was a convicted felon, Gwynn possessed and transported a Springfield XD .40-caliber pistol.
In announcing Gwynn’s initial charges on July 18, authorities said a shell casing found at the Power Ultra Lounge after the July 1 shooting was “preliminarily matched” to the Springfield XD .40-caliber pistol found in Gwynn’s possession on July 2, when federal agents apprehended both men outside the Side Effects club in Birmingham, Ala., as they showed up for a performance.
The agents reported finding two .40-caliber handguns and the machine-gun-like pistol in a Mercedes that Gwynn was driving, and in which Hampton was riding.
An agent later wrote in an affidavit that Gwynn wore a thigh holster containing a Springfield XD .40-caliber pistol loaded with nine rounds of Sig Sauer .40-caliber ammunition, and that another .40-caliber pistol, a Glock, lay on the seat beside him, with a Glock extended magazine found between the driver’s seat and the center console. The machine-gun-style pistol was found in the back seat.
Authorities said at the time that Gwynn claimed ownership of all three guns, carried a concealed-carry permit from Tennessee and claimed to be a bounty hunter. The agent’s affidavit said Gwynn wore a “fugitive recovery agent” badge and a ballistic vest.
Authorities said Gwynn told officers he was Hampton’s bodyguard and that he was on the stage with Hampton during the shooting in Little Rock but didn’t fire any shots or know who did.
Gwynn and Hampton are to be arraigned on the most recent indictment at 2 p.m. Aug. 15 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Joe Volpe.