Police: Rapper slain during video shoot; 5 injured
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A rapper killed Sunday night in a shooting that wounded five other people during a southwest Philadelphia music video shoot may also have been the target of early morning gunfire the same day, police said.
Ezra Weah, 21, known as "Bankroll Gambino" in rap circles, was one of 10 people trying to film a music video when at least two people got out of a car and opened fire, Homicide Capt. Jason Smith said.
Weah was found on the porch steps with a gunshot wound to the head and was pronounced dead at the scene. Five other people were taken to Presbyterian Hospital, where one remained in critical condition Monday.
Weah may have also been shot at while driving his vehicle a couple of miles away shortly after 4 a.m. Sunday, Smith said. Police reported hearing gunfire in the area at the time and the victim's car was located at his home and was found to have three bullet holes.
A loaded .380 caliber handgun recovered from Weah's body had been reported stolen in a 2013 home burglary in Honesdale, Smith said. Weah had four prior arrests, he said.
Investigators assume there were at least two shooters and they were seen getting out of a black vehicle before opening fire. The motive is unknown but investigators assume it was retaliation or continuation of the earlier shooting, Smith said.
Cooperation from the public in the investigation, he said, "is lacking until this point." The block where the shooting occurred, he said, is well known to local police as having "a propensity for violence."
