Rhymes' Bodyguard Dies Outside Video Shoot

Rhymes' Bodyguard Dies Outside Video Shoot

Published: 2/6/06, 11:25 AM EDT
NEW YORK (AP) - A star-studded music video shoot was interrupted by gunfire that killed a bodyguard for rapper Busta Rhymes, police said.

Missy Elliot, Busta Rhymes and G-Unit members including Lloyd Banks were scheduled to be filming on a ninth-floor soundstage when violence erupted outside the Brooklyn building early Sunday, said police Sgt. Kevin Farrell.

Israel Ramirez, 29, was killed with a single shot to the chest, Farrell said. Rhymes, a Brooklyn native whose legal name is Trevor Smith, was not injured.

About 500 people were gathered for the video that was to accompany a remix of Rhymes' latest hit single, "Touch It."

It was unclear how many of the celebrities and crew were outside the building when the shots were fired.

Investigators were still trying to determine early Monday what led to the violence, Farrell said. Shortly before the shooting, a man connected to 50 Cent's G-Unit rap group reportedly had an outburst at the studio.

The incident was the latest in a series of incidents involving rappers, among them Jam Master Jay of Run DMC, who was fatally shot in late 2002, and Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur, who were shot to death in the late 1990s.
credit BellSouth

had to of figured that one of these days that one of the fake guns that they used in these music video's were real. I call it accidental manslaughter or homicide.