One shot, several detained after rap concert in Charlotte turns ‘chaotic,’ reports say
One person was shot and several people were detained at uptown Charlotte’s Music Factory early Monday, after staff at one of the site’s nightclubs got into an “altercation” with the entourage of Atlanta-based rapper Trouble, according to the Observer’s news partner WBTV.
The disruption started around 2 a.m. inside World Nightclub, when staff members tried to prevent someone associated with the performer from drinking liquor straight from a bottle, according to WCNC. Drinking liquor from the bottle in a club is forbidden by state law, the station reported.
Club employees and the performer’s group then began fighting and shots were fired, reported WSOC.
A police report identified the shooting victim as Timothy Royster, a 26-year-old security guard at the club, WJZY reported.
No one has been arrested in the shooting, police said in a news release later Monday, but two men in the club were arrested on unrelated charges.
Thomas Newman, 21, was arrested on an outstanding fugitive warrant from Georgia charging him with receiving stolen property, according to the CMPD news release.. Francis Williams, 31, was charged with possession of a stolen firearm.
It wasn’t made clear if the alleged drinking had taken place on stage, or if the rapper Trouble was involved in the fighting.
World Nightclub’s website says the rapper Trouble was scheduled to perform live Sunday night at the popular concert venue, and no opening act was listed. The club had not issued a statement on the incident early Monday, nor had Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police.
The wounded nightclub employee worked in security, according to a CMPD police report. He was shot in the back, and in the police report, his injuries were listed as serious.
By the time police arrived, the Music Factory had turned “chaotic” and additional officers were summoned to break up fights in the parking lot, reported WSOC. The station said it witnessed “several people” being led away by police.
Five guns were found at the scene, the police report states, although it was not clear who owned them. Ammunition and two ID cards were also found.
Trouble, whose birth name is Mariel Semonte Orr, spent almost two months in a Georgia jail on drug charges starting in November 2017, according to XXL Magazine.
The shooting was Charlotte’s third in as many days, according to earlier information from Charlotte-Mecklenburg police.
A 32-year-old man was shot in the back uptown early Saturday, near the intersection of 4th Street and Brevard Street, police said. He was released from the hospital a few hours later and charged with possession of cocaine, police said.
Police said that incident was not related to the Charlotte Pride festival, which took place all weekend in uptown.
Early Sunday morning, another man was shot in the hip or upper leg on Avalon Avenue, near Tuckaseegee Road in west Charlotte. That incident involved an argument at a boardinghouse, police said, and two people were arrested.
The victim’s injuries in that case were serious, police said.
Staff Writer Joe Marusak contributed.
This story was originally published August 20, 2018 at 5:58 AM with the headline "One shot, several detained after rap concert in Charlotte turns ‘chaotic,’ reports say."