HOUSTON, Texas — The rapper Takeoff, best known for his work with the Grammy-nominated trio Migos, is dead after a shooting early Tuesday outside a bowling alley in Houston, a representative confirmed. He was 28.
At about 2:30 a.m., police received a call about a shooting at 810 Billiard and Bowling alley at 1210 San Jacinto Street in downtown Houston, HPD Sgt. Michael Arrington said in a media conference Tuesday afternoon.
On the scene, police officers found a man shot and killed on the third floor, just outside the front door of the alley. The man was identified as Kirshnick Khari Ball, better known as Takeoff, police said.
Takeoff was part of Migos, along with Quavo and Offset.
Takeoff, of Migos, arrives at the ESPY Awards on Wednesday, July 10, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
Employees at the scene told HPD officers that a large group of people gathered in the front door area after a party had ended. That gathering led to some sort of argument, which ended in the deadly shooting, Arrington said.
Security guards who were in the area heard the shooting but did not see who did it, a police spokesperson said. Two other people, a 23-year-old man, and a 24-year-old woman took themselves to the hospital and are expected to be OK.
At least 40 people were said to have been at the event, but a lot of them fled the scene when the shooting occurred. HPD is now asking for witnesses to come forward.
“Houston. Every brother and sister in the neighborhoods, I’m calling you to action – to step up,” HPD Chief Troy Finner said during the conference. “Please step up so we can bring some closure to this family who’s hurting right now.”
During Tuesday’s presser, Finner also took time to address the hip-hop community, which he said gets a bad name, and called for them to help with Takeoff’s death investigation.
“I’m calling up on everybody. Our hip-hop artists, in Houston and around the nation, we (got to) police ourselves,” Finner said. “(There are) so many talented individuals, men and women, in that community. And we all need to stand together and make sure nobody tears down that industry. I’m calling to start here in Houston.”
Tuesday morning, several fans had gathered across the street from the bowling alley, which is in a three-story downtown Houston retail complex that includes high-end restaurants, a House of Blues and is near a Four Seasons hotel.
Isaiah Lopez, 24, said he rushed down from his home in the Houston suburb of Humble after hearing Takeoff had been killed.
“He was one of our favorites, mine and my brother’s. It’s all we would listen to,” Lopez said as he carried a dozen roses he hoped to place near the site of the shooting. “As soon as my brother called me and said, ‘Takeoff is gone,’ I had to come over here and pay my respects.”
Thomas Moreno, 30, who lives about five minutes away from the site of the shooting, said he had met Takeoff at an event at a Houston bar and restaurant in June and said he was “a real nice guy.”
“I feel it’s just another good person gone too soon,” Moreno said. “This happens every day but it hurts even more when it’s somebody so talented and so young.”
Takeoff was the youngest member of Migos, the rap trio from suburban Atlanta that also featured his uncle Quavo and cousin Offset. They first broke through with the massive hit “Versace” in 2013. The song was remixed by Drake, heightening its popularity.
The group had four Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, though Takeoff was not on their multi-week No. 1 hit “Bad and Boujee,” featuring Lil Uzi Vert. They put out a trilogy of albums called “Culture,” “Culture II” and “Culture III,” with the first two albums hitting No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. They also earned an ASCAP Vanguard Award in 2018, for their streaming success with multiplatinum songs like “Motorsport (featuring Cardi B and Nicki Minaj),” “Stir Fry,” and “Walk It Talk It.”
The trio also played a fictional version of themselves on an episode of the hit TV show “Atlanta,” but the group was not currently together.
Offset, who is married to Cardi B, released a solo album in 2019, while Takeoff and Quavo released a joint album “Only Built for Infinity Links” last month. Quavo posted links Monday on his Instagram to his and Takeoff’s Halloween-themed music video, “Messy,” along with a video of him and his friends driving around Houston.
___
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2022 KTRK-TV. All Rights Reserved.
