Hip-Hop star Busta Rhymes has issued a statement regarding what happened in that previously reported shooting that took place outside the star's recent video shoot and which resulted in the death of bodyguard Israel Ramirez.
It's now believed by authorities that while the pop promo was being filmed a row between Ruff Ryders' President Swizz Beatz and Tony Yayo of G-Unit spilled out onto the street where shots were fired from two different guns. Ramirez, 29, was struck once and was of course fatally wounded.
The statement, issued by Rhymes' attorney Robert I Kalina called Ramirez "one of the rare friends that you come across that you can trust with your life," going on to say "The conversations I have had with Izzy's wife have all been focused on comforting her and helping her get through this. To that end, I've assured her that I will be taking responsibility in making sure that my friend, a devoted husband and a loving father, is laid to rest in a proper fashion."
Two wakes were held for Ramirez in New York on 8 and 9 Feb. Rhymes was criticised for not attending the first, but did appear at the second day of services accompanied by four bodyguards. The statement went on to explain his absence from the first day: "Out of respect for the family's desire for, and right to, privacy during this mourning period I made the decision to attend Izzy's wake on the second day rather than the first, knowing that my presence would have brought unnecessary media attention to a personal and private time of grieving."
Meanwhile, police are still attempting to make sense of the case; more than five hundred people were on the set of the video-shoot, but witnesses are reluctant to come forward to speak to police, who believe that the gunman may be an associate of the aforementioned Tony Yayo. They also call into question Rhymes' claim that he was inside the studio when the shooting took place, because witnesses say that the rapper was only feet away from Ramirez when the incident occurred. Some reports have suggested that Rhymes was in fact attempting to diffuse the situation between Yayo and Swizz Beatz; though Rhymes has refused to comment further on the altercation.