Zonnique Pullins: Rapper T.I.’s Stepdaughter Arrested After Attempting To Carry Semi-Automatic Pistol Into Plane
Zonnique Pullins, the stepdaughter of Atlanta-born rapper T.I., was arrested on Thursday after she attempted to carry a semi-automatic pistol into a plane at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia.
According to Us Magazine, a police report shows that Pullins attempted to go through the airport security checkpoint with a 380 Ruger semiautomatic pistol in her bag. However, she was detained after the weapon was spotted when an X-ray scan was carried out on the bag. Zonnique Pullins had a clip and five rounds with the pistol in her bag at the time, according to New York Daily News.
Although Pullins claimed that she has a permit for the weapon, she was not in possession of it. She was, therefore, arrested and charged with carrying a concealed weapon in a public area. The police reportedly confiscated the weapon from Pullins. According to E! News, this is a misdemeanor offense.
Pullins was detained at the Clayton County Jail and released at about 2:09 a.m. on Friday, Us Magazine reported.
Zonnique is the daughter of Tameka from her earlier relationship with Zonnie “Zeboe” Pullins. Tameka gained fame in the 90s as a member of the award-winning R&B group Xscape.
Like her mother and stepfather, Zonnique Pullins is also a musician. According to The Source, she was part of a girl group called OMG (Officially Miss Guided) Girlz for about seven years until they disbanded in 2015. In 2013, OMG Girlz won the Outstanding New Artist award at the NAACP Image Awards. While with OMG Girlz, Zonnique went by the stage name “Star.” Since the group split up, Pullins has continued to develop her music.
“My music now it’s pretty much R&B. I just want to broadcast myself in different [genres], and let people hear me in a different way,” Zonnique Pullins told The Source during an interview.
After Zonnique released her single “Nun For Free” featuring Young Thug last year, she told Jet Magazine that she was working on an EP. It is unclear when Pullins will release the still untitled EP.
Zonnique’s stepfather, T.I., was not present at the venue at the time of the shooting. However, he later extended his condolences to the relatives of the victim and the injured.
That was not the first time that T.I. had grabbed the headlines for a gun-related incident. In 2007, he was arrested in Atlanta ahead of a scheduled performance at the BET Hip Hop Awards after he ordered his bodyguard to purchase several weapons (including machine guns) from a vendor, who turned out to be an undercover federal agent. T.I. was later sentenced to about a year in prison and fined over $100,000, CNN reported.
Although Zonnique’s mother, Tameka, has not been involved in any gun-related incident, she has made mention of using a gun in her lyrics. In a song released in 2014 titled “What The F**k You Gon Do,” Tameka’s lyrics include a reference to a gun. “I’ll show you what it feels like to be on the other side of the gun,” she sang.
It is unclear when Zonnique Pullins will be arraigned before a judge to answer to the charges against her. It is also unclear how Pullins acquired the semi-automatic pistol she was found with. According to U.S. federal laws, a person must be over the age of 21 to purchase a handgun.
[Photo by Bill Haber/AP Images]
