Aspiring Oakland rapper Kenny Clutch (born Kenneth Wayne Cherry Jr.), 27, was shot and
killed on Thursday in Las Vegas after an unknown assailant fired shots into Cherry’s Maserati.
According to CNN, Cherry was among three people killed in the incident, in which someone in a black Range Rover fired several shots into the rapper’s car approximately one block from the spot where Tupac Shakur was fatally shot in 1996.
After his car was hit, Cherry kept driving, ran a red light and collided with a taxi, which
caught fire and killed the driver, 62-year-old Michael Boldon. A passenger in the taxi was also killed in the fire and a passenger in Cherry’s Maserati and six others were injured in the ensuing pile-up. Police said the Maserati passenger was hit by gunfire.
Authorities have not yet identified the shooter or shooters or revealed the cause of the deadly incident.
“Out of everyone I know in the rapping industry, there is no way I would have ever, ever expected to find that he was shot on the Las Vegas Strip in such an aggressive manner,”
Cherry’s attorney, Vicki Greco, told CNN. “He didn’t have a (criminal) record or a history. He was just a good kid trying
to make it and be a good father.” The father of two prominently featured his Maserati in a music video shot in Vegas in which he covered Rick Ross’ “Stay Schemin.”
According to reports, the
incident began around 4:20 a.m. local time, when an altercation broke out in the valet parking section of the Aria Hotel, reportedly involving Cherry and an unnamed party.
The other person was in a black Range Rover and moments after the disagreement someone in the Range shot at Cherry. The fiery aftermath shut down bustling
Las Vegas Boulevard as police carried on their investigation near some of the city’s biggest hotel/casinos, including the Bellagio, Caesars Palace and Bally’s.
The injured Maserati passenger and witnesses are helping detectives piece together the narrative of the shooting and Clark County Sherriff Doug Gillespie said,
“What happened will not be tolerated … This act is totally unacceptable, and we are going
to make a very clear message to these individuals in regards to that.”
The Range was described as having out-of-state dealer plates, tinted windows and
large black rims.
Culled from MTV news
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