Schoolboy Q: Rapper Reportedly Held After Shooting Outside Concert In Denver
Schoolboy Q, who had just finished performing a concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre outside Denver, Colorado, was reportedly held briefly by police after three people were found shot following the Thursday night show which also featured rappers Nas and Flying Lotus.
The reports that Schoolboy Q, a 27-year-old rapper whose real name is Quincey Hanley, was detained by Denver police stem from photos taken at the scene showing a man who bears a strong resemblance to Schoolboy Q being led away in handcuffs on a Denver street after the concert.
One of the photos was posted to the social media service Twitter by local TV news reporter James Dougherty.
Here is a better picture of the man detained at 7th & Kalamath. Jefferson County SO is taking over investigation. pic.twitter.com/rZO2lLkhqE
— James Dougherty (@Dougherty7NEWS) June 20, 2014
The trio of shooting victims fled the Red Rocks parking lot in a white SUV. Police picked up the pursuit, but when they finally managed to stop the vehicle at Sixth and Kalamath Streets in Denver about 15 miles from the outdoor concert facility, they discovered that the victims were headed to a hospital to seek medical attention.
“This initially came out as a chase, as a pursuit,” said Jacki Kelley of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department. “It wasn’t until Denver police got this vehicle stopped that they realized it was headed to the hospital. They were headed into town and didn’t want to wait for medical.”
The victims’ wounds are not believed to be life-threatening. The SUV, which police said was rented from a limousine service, had extensive damaged to its windshield.
The man believed to be Schoolboy Q was apparently in the vehicle with the victims. But neither Schoolboy Q nor his representatives have commented on the incident to confirm or deny that it was in fact the rapper who was detained or, if the man was indeed Quincey Hanley, why he was in the SUV with the three shooting victims.
Another Sheriff’s spokesperson, Mark Techmeyer, said that no one in the SUV was arrested and that after a pursuit, it is standard procedure to handcuff the occupants of a fleeing vehicle.
Red Rocks was placed on lockdown after the shooting, which police believe was not a random incident. They say that the three victims were deliberately targeted by a man with a rifle, though Techmeyer said that details of the shooting incident which took place at about 10:30 Thursday night remained “pretty sketchy” by early Friday morning.
“We do not believe this is a random shooting into a crowd,” said Techmeyer. “We don’t know what the motive would have been for the shooter, or what the connection is with the victims.”
Schoolboy Q is next scheduled to perform Wednesday, June 25, at New York City’s Central Park Summerstage. There has been no information on whether that performance will be affected by Thursday’s events.
