Police are searching for suspects in a shoot-out along Independence Boulevard Wednesday involving rapper Waka Flocka Flame.
The Atlanta rapper was at the Car Stereo Warehouse near Bojangles’ Coliseum to have the sound system in his tour bus upgraded. The 24-year-old rapper, whose given name is Juaquin Malphurs, was outside the store when two vehicles pulled into the parking lot, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police.
Men in the vehicles exchanged gunfire with people in the rapper’s party, police said.
One person was shot in the shoulder and taken to Carolinas Medical Center.
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The man shot was Antonio Stukes, 20, according to police sources. Police are trying to determine what role he played in the shoot-out.
Stukes was released from a N.C. prison in December for convictions including assault with a deadly weapon.
Stukes’ attorney, Adam Seifer, told Observer news partner WCNC-TV that his client shouldn’t face criminal charges.
“He was an innocent bystander who only went up there to talk to Mr. Waka about getting a record deal,” Seifer told WCNC-TV. “He had no part in the shooting.”
Malphurs also has a criminal record. He was released from jail last month after he turned himself in on charges including drug and weapons possession, as well as criminal street gang activity and a probation violation, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The rapper voluntarily went to the police station for questioning and was released late Wednesday, said police spokesman Rob Tufano.
No one had been charged in connection to the shoot-out Thursday evening.
Detectives are examining surveillance video from inside and outside the store, Tufano said, as police search for the suspects’ vehicles – a white Land Rover or Range Rover and a white Dodge, possibly a Charger.
Police are also investigating whether the incident was gang-related.
Waka Flocka Flame’s song “No Hands” is currently No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Staff researcher Maria David contributed.
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