A suspect has been arrested and charged with murder in the killing of Takeoff, the rapper and member of Migos, at a bowling alley in Houston last month.
Announcing the news on Friday, Houston police said Takeoff, who was 28 and whose birth name was Kirshnik Khari Ball, was “an innocent bystander”.
The city police chief, Troy Finner, said Patrick Xavier Clark, 33, was arrested and charged on Thursday evening. Another man, Cameron Joshua, 22, was charged with unlawful carrying of a weapon.
Clark was being held in jail, awaiting a bond hearing. Court records did not list an attorney who could speak for him.
“We lost a good man,” Finner said of Takeoff.
Migos broke through with the massive hit Versace in 2013. They had four Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, though Takeoff was not on their multi-week No 1, Bad and Boujee, featuring Lil Uzi Vert. They put out a trilogy of albums, Culture, Culture II and Culture III, the first two hitting No 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart.
Takeoff and Quavo released a joint album, Only Built for Infinity Links, weeks before Takeoff’s death.
At a memorial service in Atlanta last month, fans and performers including Drake and Justin Bieber celebrated Takeoff’s musical legacy, the Associated Press reported.
The shooting happened in the early hours of 1 November. Police said a dispute erupted as more than 30 people were leaving a private party. Police have also said another man and a woman suffered non-life-threatening gunshot injuries and that at least two people opened fire.
On Friday, a Houston police sergeant, Michael Burrow, told reporters: “There was a lucrative dice game that went on at the event, there was an argument that happened afterwards outside the bowling alley which led to the shooting.
“I can tell you that Takeoff was not involved in playing the dice game, he was not involved in the argument that happened outside, he was not armed. He was an innocent bystander.”
Burrow also called for more witnesses to come forward, saying: “We’ve boiled it down to over 30 people that were standing outside [the bowling alley].
“Literally, every single one of those people left the scene without giving a statement to police. We found a few of them that night, we’ve found others since then, but it’s important that those people come forward.”
Under Texas law, if convicted of murder, Clark could receive between five years and 99 years in prison, and possibly even life imprisonment.
