A$AP Rocky arrested at Los Angeles airport in connection to 2021 shooting

Author: Editors Desk Source: The Guardian

April 20, 2022 at 14:25

A$AP Rocky in March 2022. Photograph: Alberto Valdés/EPA

Rapper was detained at LAX in connection to a November 2021 shooting not previously reported in the media

A$AP Rocky was detained at Los Angeles international airport on Wednesday in connection to a November 2021 shooting, NBC News reported.

The 33-year-old rapper, legal name Rakim Mayers, was returning from vacation in Barbados with his girlfriend, Rihanna, when he was arrested by the Los Angeles police department with assistance from Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s homeland security investigations team. The couple are expecting a child this spring.

The rapper’s attorney, Alan Jackson, confirmed to NBC News that his client had been arrested.

A$AP Rocky had been under investigation for a shooting in Los Angeles the night of 6 November 2021, which had not previously been reported in the media. The shooting victim, who survived, told police the rapper and two others approached him on the street with a handgun. According to police reports, the victim claimed A$AP Rocky shot at him three or four times, and believed a bullet grazed his left hand.

TMZ reported that officers were currently serving a search warrant at his home in Los Angeles.

This is not the first arrest for A$AP Rocky, who hails from the New York City neighborhood of Harlem. In 2019, he was arrested in Sweden following a fight between his entourage and two other men.

The rapper was convicted of assault and ordered to pay more than $1,000 in damages. He spent a month in jail before the sentence and was not ordered to serve additional time.