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Artist News Legal
Rapper accused over shooting at TI concert avoids murder charge
By Chris Cooke | Published on Tuesday 21 June 2016
Rapper Troy Ave, real name Roland Collins, has avoided a murder charge in relation to that shooting backstage at a TI concert, but he has still been charged with five felonies, including attempted second degree murder, which could result in a decades-long prison sentence if he is found guilty.
As previously reported, one person was killed and three, including Collins, were injured in the shooting at New York’s Irving Plaza venue last month. The rapper, who had also been scheduled to perform at the show, was later arrested in relation to the incident. It is claimed he was targeting another rapper playing the gig, Maino, with whom he had been feuding.
Collins’ lawyer subsequently told the court that his client was actually the victim of the shooting, noting that it was the rapper’s own bodyguard – Ronald McPhatter – who had been killed. Alleging that a short video released by the NYPD was misleading, the attorney denied a theory that had been put forward that Collins had shot McPhatter by mistake.
The fact that Collins has not been charged with murder suggests further investigations have now disproved that theory, but that doesn’t mean the rapper is off the hook. According to TMZ, a grand jury has indicted Collins of one count of attempted second degree murder and four counts of criminal possession of a weapon.
The rapper’s lawyer, who will ask for his client to be released on bail at a scheduled hearing later this week, still maintains that Collins was the victim rather than the instigator of this shooting, telling TMZ: “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”.
