Three people were killed in a drive-by shooting and fiery car crash Thursday morning in the middle of the Las Vegas Strip.
Kenneth Cherry, a Las Vegas rapper known as Kenny Clutch, was shot and killed behind the wheel of his Maserati at about 4:20 a.m. Pacific Time by gunshots fired from a black Range Rover at Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo Road in the shadow of Caesars Palace, Bellagio and the Flamingo. Two others died when the Maserati ran a red light at Flamingo and crashed into a taxi, which exploded, killing the driver and a passenger, whose bodies were burned beyond recognition. A passenger in the Maserati was injured.
Police were still searching Friday morning for the Range Rover and its occupants. The vehicle was reported to have paper dealer license plates, tinted windows and large black rims.
Sheriff Doug Gillespie said the trouble started in the valet area of the Aria resort at Harmon Avenue and the Strip, after which the Maserati and Range Rover headed north on the Strip. Unconfirmed reports cited by the Las Vegas Review-Journal indicated that the dispute may have started in the hotel’s nightclub.
Mr Cherry’s music videos on YouTube show the rapper driving around the Strip in the Maserati.
In September 1996, famed rapper Tupac Shakur was shot and killed at the intersection of Flamingo and Koval Lane as he rode in the front seat of a car driven by Death Row Records Chairman Marion “Suge” Knight. According to police reports, an occupant of a nearby vehicle leaned out and fired several shots at Mr Knight’s BMW. Mr Shakur, 25, was struck four times and died a week later in a Las Vegas hospital. Mr Knight suffered a minor head wound.
Before the shooting, the two had attended the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon boxing match at the MGM Grand, where Mr Shakur and his entourage became involved in an altercation with a Los Angeles-area man.
